


No Snow

by leoba, LoveThemFiercely



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Absurdist Comedy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Based on White Christmas, Ben and Finn are the brother act, Comedy, Discussions of sex, F/M, Finn and Ben are brothers, Finn is Leia's foster son, Finn is sexy and Rose is thirsty as heck, Fluff and Angst, Genderswap, M/M, Maz/Snap is a secondary pairing has that been done before, Operas, POV Multiple, Rose and Rey are the successful team, Singing, Snap etc. don't show up until chapters 6 & 7, Sunflower is basically Lorde & Lorde, White Christmas, influenced by Flight of the Conchords, influenced by Lorde, influenced by Monty Python, let finnrose have all the sex okay, lots of swearing, paige and kes show up in the Epilogue, sorry to make you wait
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-17 05:03:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16968189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leoba/pseuds/leoba, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveThemFiercely/pseuds/LoveThemFiercely
Summary: Ben Solo wasn’t looking for any excitement at Christmas. He just wanted to hang out at his family’s resort with his best friend, drink whiskey by the fire, maybe do a little skiing. He wasn’t counting on one of the most popular singing duos in the country to show up and throw a wrench in it, and he certainly wasn’t expectingno snow. What’s Christmas in Vermont without any snow???





	1. Six days to Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> _White Christmas_ is a musical film released in 1954. It stars Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as a successful song-and-dance team who meet up with and eventually become romantically involved with a sister act, played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. They team up to save the failing Vermont inn of the former commanding general of the Crosby and Kaye characters. The film is sweet and fun and full of jokes, singing, and dancing.
> 
> This story follows the basic outline of that story. It focuses on two acts, one a very successful pair of singers and the other a less well-known comedy duo. (mild and expected spoilers: ) They will also eventually become romantically involved. They will also team up to save a failing Vermont inn. There will be singing and jokes, although there won't be much dancing. Some scenes will be reminiscent of the original movie, and others won't. There will be many characters you recognize and hopefully love. There will be angst (more angst than in the film, because it's Reylo) but there will be plenty of sweet fluff, too.
> 
> It may bear saying that you don't need to know White Christmas in order to enjoy this story.
> 
> There are original song lyrics throughout the story by LoveThemFiercely, so she is a co-author on those chapters that include her poetry. I am so thrilled that she agreed to write lyrics for Sunflower! The songs don't have music, alas, but if you use your imagination I'm sure you can come up with something.
> 
> White Christmas is my favorite Christmas/Wintertime movie of all, and I have done my best to pay homage to the original without simply repeating the story stroke by stroke. I hope you enjoy it! Happy Holidays and may your Christmas be full of snow (if you're in the Northern hemisphere) or sunny and just warm enough (if you're in the Southern hemisphere).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Choo choo! Who wants a train ride? Beautiful things can happen on trains. Or not so beautiful things...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter one takes place on Wednesday, December 19th. One or two chapters, corresponding with one day, will be published from today through to Christmas Day. So please be sure to come back tomorrow to find out what happens on Thursday!

“Last call for the Vermonter! Last call! All aboard!” The two men rushed past the shouting conductor to leap into the open door of the sleeper car. The taller of the two, a pale man with dark hair that fell over his eyes, dropped his duffle bag and dug into his jacket, searching for the printed tickets that he knew were in his pockets, somewhere. The other man, dark-skinned with his hair in twists hidden beneath a grey knitted hat, grinned and exclaimed, “Just barely made it, that was great timing, Ben!”

Ben nodded as he pulled the tickets out of his inside pocket with a flourish. “We had a great show tonight, and it gave us exactly the right amount of time to catch this train. Now we can find our roomette, have a beer, _sleep_ , and then tomorrow it’s nothing but two weeks of whiskey and skiing. All that snow? It's going to be great” He slapped the other man on his back before picking the bag back up and heading down the narrow corridor. “Finn, we deserve a vacation.”

Finn hummed in agreement. “ _So much snow_ , I cannot wait.”

But first, to sleep. Ben found the roomette assigned to them, but the door was closed, and when he checked it was locked as well. There was movement on the other side of the door, he could hear it, and… was that singing? Looks like someone got the wrong room. 

He knocked on the door, two sharp raps. The singing stopped and a moment later the door slid open, revealing a woman dressed in pink pajamas and a matching dressing gown and slippers. The pajamas looked very soft. She’d be beautiful if she didn’t have such a sour expression on her face. Wait, never mind. She was beautiful anyway.

“Yes?” She snapped, her eyes moving between the two of them. Hazel eyes. Chestnut hair, pulled back in a severe bun. No makeup, but it didn't matter. 

“You…” Ben fumbled with the tickets between his fingers, “You're in the wrong roomette.”

Her response was immediate and sharp. “I assure you we are not.” 

“Hey.” That voice was smaller, more friendly. Ben glanced behind the woman in the doorway but saw nobody, until he caught movement near the ceiling, on the top bunk. There was another person there, a woman with shoulder-length black hair and Asian features, wearing something green. She was gazing down next to him, where Finn was leaning into the doorframe.

“Heyyy,” Finn countered with a crooked grin. Flirting with the women who’d claimed their roomette? _Great_.

Ben turned his attention back to the annoyed, pretty woman in pink. She looked even more annoyed now. “Uh, you are though,” he insisted, shaking the tickets in her face. 

She scowled and grabbed the paper out of his hand, took one look at it and rolled her eyes. “What is today's date?”

Ben had to think about that. “It's, uh, Wednesday.”

She sighed and replied very slowly, as though she were speaking to a toddler. “Yes, it is Wednesday, but that's not what I asked. What is today's _date_?” She had an English accent and a beautiful voice that lilted as she spoke. Even considering the number of talented vocalists he had met in his life Ben didn’t think he’d ever heard a lilting voice before, not really, and he found himself wishing she would say more pleasant things to him with that voice. 

Ben looked down at his watch but Finn was quicker. “It's the 19th.”

The woman angled herself towards Finn. “Yes, it is. Wednesday the 19th of December.” As she was speaking Ben could feel his gut slowly clench. He'd fucked up, hadn't he. The woman held the tickets out and Finn took them. “Look at the date of your tickets.” She pronounced each word very carefully.

Finn took too long, and Ben could feel his ears burning. Finally his friend sighed, always a bad sign. “Goddammit, these tickets are for _yesterday_. We missed our train. Where are we gonna sleep now?”

Anger churned in Ben’s chest and the triumphant expression on the woman’s face didn’t help. He took a deep breath, pushed the emotion down and turned to his friend. “Finn, it was an honest mistake, I booked those tickets over a month ago…” but his excuse-making was interrupted by the woman on the bunk.

“I don’t know about you, tall guy, but your friend can sleep up here with me, if he wants.” Annoyed, pretty woman didn’t turn around but her face blanched, and Finn, although still clearly irked at Ben, gave the woman on the bunk a wink and a grin and put on what Ben knew he thought of as his "cowboy persona".

“That’s mighty kind of you, miss, but my friend Ben here will need a place to lay his head too, and I’m not going to leave him alone, even for a lady as pretty as yourself.”

Annoyed woman found her voice, and it was hard and brittle as flint. “She was _joking_.”

The other woman sat up. “I was half-joking. And wait, Finn and Ben? I _thought_ you looked familiar, you’re the Scruffy Looking Nerf Herders aren’t you! Oh my god you are!” Her disruption rendered everyone else speechless, even the pretty, annoyed woman, and they all watched her climb down the ladder and jump to the floor. She was a good four inches shorter than her friend, and pleasantly soft-looking. Ben could see Finn out of the corner of his eye, looking her up and down. Again, _great_.

Before she could step forward, her friend put her arm out to hold her back. “Rose, don’t get too close, you don’t know who these guys are. It’s almost midnight and we’re stuck on a train.”

The shorter woman rolled her eyes and held her hand out to the men. “Rey, come _on_ , I know exactly who they are, we were watching their YouTube just yesterday. Remember, you were saying how hot…”

Pretty woman - Rey, her annoyance replaced with anger, turned on her with a clenched “ _Rose!_ ” at the same time Finn pushed himself off the doorframe to stand up straight and exclaim, “Hey, Rey and Rose! You’re Sunflower! You're _amazing_!”

For a second time the room was full of silent surprise. Rey was now very pink, her eyes wide, and Ben wondered what Rose would have said if she’d been able to keep talking. 

He also wondered what the heck his friend was talking about. “Uh, what’s _Sunflower_?”

Finn turned to him, astonished. “Ben, Sunflower is only _the_ hottest pop group in the country right now. We were just listening to them yesterday. _What You Love_? I can’t stop singing it, it’s stuck in my head, you were humming along, too.” It did sound familiar, now that Finn mentioned it. His friend was digging around in his backpack as he was talking, and pulled out a glossy magazine, _People_ , he shoved it in Ben’s face and pointed to one of the smaller photos along the side of the cover. Ben took it from him and looked at it closely. He’d definitely seen them before; online, on YouTube. They looked different in real life, less made-up, more real, but no less beautiful. Especially the angry one. Rey. She was gorgeous. Ben tried not to think about it too much, because she clearly thought he was an idiot. He was inclined to agree with her just now.

While Ben contemplated the magazine Finn kept talking, but now he was addressing the women. “Seriously, I love your music. Your first album got me through a lot of stuff, and this new one is just… it’s just so beautiful.” He finished his little speech with a hand over his heart and a sigh, leaning back against the doorframe. 

Rose, clearly thrilled, was bouncing up and down on her green-socked toes and clapping her hands, and even Rey looked a little softer. “Thank you,” she said to Finn, and she sounded sincere. “That’s very kind of you, I’m glad you like our music.” But then she toughened up again. “That said, you really can’t stay here, no matter what Rose says.” Ben could see Rose deflate behind her. It was… kind of cute, actually. He was constantly amazed at the effect that his oldest friend had on people. Years of spending time with him had done nothing to pass along his charms.

Finn sighed. “Yeah, come on Ben. Let’s go to the cafe car, maybe they’ll let us hang out there overnight. The train should arrive around nine tomorrow, we’ll be able to take a nap when we get to the inn. Okay?”

Ben nodded grudgingly and waved goodnight to the women. Finn managed to reach in and give Rose a little handshake, much to the apparent delight of both of them, and to the continued annoyance of Rey. They headed back down the corridor in search of the cafe car, and hopefully at least a few hours of sleep. It was certainly not the best start to their vacation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're a fan of the movie you'll notice that I've moved up the beginning quite a bit. If there are scenes you love that come earlier in the film ( _*cough*Sisters*cough*_ ) please don't be sad, you may just see them poke their little heads up later on!
> 
> Although I am writing Rey and Rose as Bing and Danny, and Ben and Finn as Rosemary and Vera-Ellen, it's not a strict division. For example, here we have the guys doing the guy thing and the ladies doing the lady thing. it just made more sense to me to start it this way. The switch will become more obvious later in the story.
> 
> It won't matter until later, but fwiw, I think of Sunflower as being like Lorde if there were two of them, and the Nerf Herders are like a cross between Monty Python and the Flight of the Conchords, but without music. It makes sense in my head, just roll with it.


	2. Five days to Christmas (part one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We arrive at the storied Columbia Inn (in beautiful Pine Tree, Vermont), meet a few more characters, and learn a bit about everyone. A plot starts to form. The couplings begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one monster chapter so I divided it in two. A lot happens on this, the fifth day before Christmas.

“They’re cute, and they’re funny, you know. Finn especially has excellent comedic timing, and his voice, _unf_. I hope they found a place to rest.” Rose was chatty as she pulled on her sweater and checked her hair in the little mirror over the tiny sink in the corner of the roomette. “Do you think they actually spent all night in the cafe car?” She wouldn’t stop talking about those guys, especially Finn. Finn, so charming, who was clearly into her. _Fuck_. Rose needed to learn to be careful; not every nice guy was really a _nice guy_. Rose was lucky she had Rey there to watch out for her.

Rose and Rey had opted to have breakfast delivered to their roomette at 8am, an hour before their scheduled arrival time, giving them plenty of time to eat and get ready for the day. Rey was exhausted, she hadn’t slept well, never did sleep well on trains. The same steady rocking motion that soothed Rose, put her right to sleep, was just a little too much for Rey. So she’d spent much of the night awake, trying desperately to sleep, playing with her phone, worrying about Rose and their upcoming vacation and the spring tour. Her immediate plan was to make it to the inn, then take a long, relaxing nap. It would all be fine.

The conductor had just announced ten minutes to arrival, and so far everything was going to plan. Their carry-ons were packed, and their checked bags would be delivered to the platform. Rey had confirmed with the inn’s driver via email the day before that he would meet them at the station. He mentioned that a couple of other people from the train would also be going with them, which made Rey a little nervous. Ever since the article in _People_ they were starting to get recognized in public, and she would have preferred to remain anonymous. A couple of guys on the train was one thing, but paparazzi at a country inn would be a whole other problem.

Fifteen minutes later the women were greeting the inn’s driver, a handsome man of uncertain middle-age with wavy black hair who introduced himself as Poe Dameron. He loaded their bags into the back of the van and made small talk with them until he spotted someone over her shoulder and excused himself politely before shouting, “My guys!” Rose turned around first and starting laughing, and Rey’s stomach churned before she even saw what was happening because she just _knew_. And then she turned around and found out she was right: Poe was embracing Finn and Ben in comfortable-looking hugs with a strong grip and hearty back-pats. So apparently the Nerf Herders were friendly with the inn’s driver. _Great_.

Rey tried and failed to remember the last time she’d been hugged like that. She didn’t really care, anyway. Better to hold yourself apart than to open yourself up to disappointment.

Finn and Rose greeted each other first; they said hello and jumped right into the back seat of the van where soon enough they were talking like old friends. Rose wasn’t kidding when she said she was a fan of the Nerf Herders, and Finn wasn’t kidding when he said he loved Sunflower’s music, so there was plenty for them to talk about. Even so, before they were ten minutes out from the station, they’d moved on to talking about personal things: their school experiences, random jobs worked, and embarrassing stories of all kinds.

Rey was seething. She should have been happy for her friend, but she wasn’t. This would end in heartbreak, and she’d be the one who would have to pick up the pieces. She knew this because that was how it worked—how it had always worked—since Rose became her best friend forever when they were assigned as roommates at the start of their first year at the Anderson School of Music in Philadelphia. Rey loved Rose like a sister, but she sure could be dumb about men.

Ben was sitting next to her on the bench, an empty seat between them, looking out the opposite window, one of his long legs stuck out in front of him and the other bent up, his chin resting on his knee. After a bit of small talk Poe had apparently determined that neither Rey nor Ben were in the mood for conversation, so he'd turned on some Christmas music and was humming along softly.

Rey observed Ben out of the corner of her eye, trying not to be too obvious. He was wearing jeans and brown boots and the quilted plaid jacket he’d worn yesterday that made him look a little like a lumberjack. Dark circles were settled under his eyes, his hair was mussed, and a light shadow of stubble decorated his chin and cheeks; he obviously hadn’t slept well. His face, as it was last night, was unsmiling. He’d nodded at her when they got into the van, but hadn’t said anything to her, for which she was grateful.

She was still unnerved about what had happened the night before. When she’d opened the door she thought it was the attendant checking about turn-down service, and she’d been shocked to find a very tall, very handsome man ( _yes_ , she could admit he was handsome, nothing wrong with that) lurking in the corridor. A man who didn’t pay attention to the date on his ticket and whose cheeks flushed when he realized he was in the wrong. A man who dressed up in a cape and a helmet and threatened to beat up a stuffed animal before getting beaten with a foam sword himself. A comic who didn't seem to know how to smile.

Rey would never admit it, but she’d spent part of her sleepless night under the blanket on her phone watching the Nerf Herders YouTube channel. It was legitimately funny. Absurd for sure, but the guys had chemistry, and, yes, they were attractive. Maybe this vacation won’t be completely terrible - as long as she could keep Finn from getting too close to Rose, a task at which she was so far failing miserably.

It took them about an hour, mostly on twisty back roads, to finally reach the inn where they would spend the next two weeks. About thirty minutes into the drive, Finn voiced a thought that had been floating around Rey’s head since the train pulled into the station.

“Hey Poe, where's the snow? There should be at least a foot of it on the ground by now.”

Poe chuckled without humor. “No snow, man. And none forecast for the next ten days; current average temp for the week is fifty-eight degrees every day. Looks like there will be no white Christmas for us this year.”

“No snow!” Rose exclaimed, lifting her head from Finn’s shoulder. “I was going to learn to ski!” She stuck out her lower lip, and Rey turned in her seat just in time to see Finn glance down at it. She narrowed her eyes at him but he didn't notice. This was happening even faster than she’d feared it would.

“No snow,” repeated a deep, grumpy voice to her right. Ben ran a hand through his hair and said it again. “No snow. But there's whiskey, right?”

This question made Poe and Finn both laugh loudly, and Poe answered, “Always, of course. A nice variety, too. Couple bottles from Ireland, couple bottles of Scotch, even some bourbon.”

“So what are you guys going to drink?” There was definitely humor in Ben’s voice, although his face remained still and neutral. The other men laughed again, and Ben glanced over and saw Rey watching him. He dropped a wink and Rey felt her cheeks burning as she looked back out the window. If a corner of his mouth quirked up in response, she didn't see it.

There were a few minutes of relative silence, only broken by the gentle murmur of Rose and Finn bonding over his phone in the back seat. Eventually Rose swore loudly, and Rey turned around ready to impart physical violence if necessary, but there was no need.

“Sorry, baby,” Finn said to her as he tucked the phone into his pocket. “There's no cell service out here, although the inn has wireless. We’ll just have to find other ways to entertain ourselves I guess.”

Rose giggled. “I guess so.”

Rey groaned audibly. This was _terrible_.

Before Rey could say anything to attempt to break the mood, Ben spoke up again. “If there's no snow, how's the vacancy rate at the inn? Are there many other guests over Christmas?”

Poe shook his head. “Not good, Ben. Had a bunch of cancellations—in fact, you guys are the only guests right now.”

“The General can't be happy about that. She needs all the guests that she can get.” Ben's voice was full of concern, which Rey found interesting. Why did he care?

Rose piped up from the back seat. “Who's the General? That sounds exciting. Will we have to do drills or something?”

It was a cute joke, but Rey thought Finn laughed just a little too hard at it. He replied, “The General owns the place. She's not really a General, they just call her that because she rules with an iron fist.”

Poe hummed in agreement. “She's a great boss, the best, but she needs paying guests to keep the inn running. Not your concern. Anyway, you'll meet her soon enough.”

* * *

Thirty minutes later they were pulling into the drive of the inn. It was a long building, two stories, with tall windows lining the front of the ground floor and dormer windows jutting out of the slope of the roof on the second floor. Rey knew from the booking website that the inn only had 38 rooms, which was one of the reasons they’d selected it; fewer rooms meant fewer opportunities to be recognized, although as it turned out they needn’t have worried about that. Alongside the parking area, adjacent to the inn proper, was a large building that looked like a barn, although a painted sign above the large double doors identified it as the ski lodge. Another thing they wouldn’t be needing after all.

As they were climbing out of the van and organizing the luggage they were greeted by two other people, both of them older women. The first woman was tall and thin and had vibrant lilac-colored hair framing a face distinguished by high cheekbones and an easy smile that brought pleasing wrinkles to the corners of keen blue eyes. Rey noticed her short fingernails were painted a color similar to her hair, but the rest of her was clad plainly, in a tan Carhartt jacket over jeans and tan work boots. She shook their hands with a strong grip. “Amilyn Holdo, but please just call me Holdo.” She got to work helping Poe unload the van.

The second woman was shorter, rounder, wearing ankle boots and a comfortable-looking informal dress made of black corduroy with a yellow shawl around her shoulders. Her hair was in complicated braids piled in a kind of bun on top of her head. She stayed on the front porch, out of the fray, just watching the unloading. Rey was thinking that this woman looked familiar when Rose shouted and ran to her.

“Professor Organa!! Oh my God, are you staying here too?” The two women embraced in laughter as Rey walked over to join them.

It was definitely Professor Leia Organa. She'd been the chair of vocal arts at the Anderson School of Music, where Rey and Rose had both studied, and although neither of them had studied with her and she'd retired before their senior year, her influence on them couldn't be overestimated. They hadn’t seen Professor Organa in at least five years, but she looked very much the same. Maybe just a bit shorter, a bit more grey. But she still had the same rich voice and quiet gravitas, an impression that she was a woman to be loved, and perhaps a bit feared.

But right now she was beaming. “Oh, don't be so formal, call me Leia! Or the General, I suppose, that's what the boys call me. And I’m not staying here—I own the place. I’m so thrilled to see you both, I read your story in _People_ just yesterday, so you’ve been on my mind. Doing your alma mater proud! I didn’t know you’d be staying here. I’m very sure you don’t have reservations, or I would have recognized your names.”

Rey blushed. “We made our reservations under fake names. It's just a way to keep attention off of us. If we'd known you were the owner of course we'd have let you know!” She stepped over to give the Professor a side-hug of her own.

The older woman looked past Rey with a grin. “And I see you’ve met my sons, Castor and Pollux.” She embraced Ben and Finn warmly, finishing with a pat on the cheek for each of them. “How’s the city treating you? You getting enough to eat? We’ll have lunch set up at noon in the ski lodge; that gives you more than an hour to get settled and rest a bit.” This last bit was directed to all of them.

Rose squealed, “Your sons! Oh, what a fun coincidence. We were just getting to know them in the ride from the station.”

Finn grinned at her. “Foster son, technically.” Rose shot Rey a meaningful glance but didn’t say anything; Rey pointedly ignored her.

Leia waved her hand around as she turned to lead them into the front door of the inn. “Oh, technicalities. Finn and Ben have been best friends since, what, second grade? And Finn moved in with us full-time when they started high school. He’s as much my baby as my baby is.”

Rey took the opportunity to check Ben’s reaction. How would it feel to have your mother refer to someone else as her child? She had no frame of reference. But Ben’s expression was as serious as ever. He caught her looking at him and there was, she thought, just the hint of a smile around his eyes. It flustered her, for reasons she didn’t entirely understand, and she brought her attention back to the surroundings.

Once in the foyer Leia held her arms up and turned around. “Welcome to Columbia Inn, my third baby, and hopefully my last.” The foyer was pleasant and homey, if a little old fashioned. The reception desk and small office beyond was the focal point of the room, with a doorway to the back of the inn around on the left and a set of double doors, which Rey assumed led to the ski lodge, far along on the right. A stairwell to the right of the reception desk led upstairs, and another set of doors to the left led to parts beyond. Rey thought perhaps there was another wing to the left, not visible from the parking area. The room had a warm parquet floor and was dotted with comfortable-looking chairs and seating areas for two or three people, and it was flooded with sunlight coming in from the tall windows at the front. Rey imagined that, when it was full, it would be a wonderful, cozy, friendly space. At the moment it just felt a little bit empty and lonely.

Holdo found their reservation under the assumed names - Daisy Ridley and Trần Loan - and gave them a shared room, at Rey’s insistence and to Rose’s quiet annoyance. Finn and Ben had already gone off to settle into their own room; apparently they would also be sharing. Leia told them she’d purchased the inn and moved in five years before, just after her retirement, well after the men had graduated and left home, so they slept in guest rooms. Leia, Holdo and Poe had private rooms through the mysterious door on the left side of the foyer.

Leia and Holdo went to the ski lodge to prepare lunch, leaving Poe to help Rey and Rose get settled into their room. It was pleasant enough, with two big beds, a private bathroom with a good-sized tub, and windows facing the empty, brown ski slopes.

Rey opened her suitcase and started pulling out her clothes, laying them on one of the beds in preparation to put them away. Rose sat on the window seat and stared out onto the expanse of dead grass, singing quietly to herself. “Rose,” Rey began, but the other woman interrupted her, exasperated.

“I know what you’re going to say, Rey, so let’s skip it. We’re both twenty-seven, I’m not a baby, you’re not my mom, and I can do what I want with my body. Okay?”

Rey allowed the burst of anger to roll over her; giving in to it wouldn’t do either of them any good. It was replaced very quickly with sadness. That, she could work with. She hung up the dress in her hand and went to sit next to her friend.

“Rose, I know. It’s just, after what happened with Chris, and Adam…”

“And Mark, and Daniel, and, and.” Rose took Rey’s hand in both of hers and squeezed. “I know, Rey. I’m very self-aware.” She sighed and brought Rey’s hand up under her chin. “Finn seems really nice though, like there’s just something kind about him. And he's a former foster kid, too. It would be nice to have another friend who understands what that's like, you know?”

Rey did know, but that one fact wasn't enough to sway her. “Just… be careful, okay? I _will_ be watching out for you, whether you want me to or not.”

Rose chuckled. “Okay, _cô_.” Then she hit Rey with a mischievous grin. “What about you? Any romance in your future? I see at least two guys here you could hook up with easily, and that’s not even counting the one I already have my eyes on.” And she waggled her eyebrows for good measure.

Her cheeks burning, Rey shook her head vigorously. “No way, nope. I am here to relax and spend some time with you, without having to think about work. We can catch up with Prof… Leia, I mean. Not even a little interested in sex or romance or whatever.”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” quoted Rose, as she let Rey’s hand go. “You were saying just the other day how hot Ben is, what happened to that?”

Rey huffed. “I met him. He’s quieter than his persona, and he… does he ever smile? I don’t think he knows how. I can’t be interested in a man who doesn’t smile. Finn has him beat to pieces in that regard.”

“He sure does.” Rose stood up and got to work unpacking her own luggage. “I love spending time with you, Rey, but it would be lovely to get even forty-five minutes to myself. Forty-five? Could you bear to spend that much time with Ben?” She leaned towards Rey and smiled conspiratorially. “Maybe you can give him something to smile about.”

 _Something to smile about_. Rey had enough to worry about without any additional complications. But she could give Rose forty-five minutes, with or without Ben’s help. She joined Rose and within a few minutes they had unpacked and were heading down to lunch.

* * *

Lunch was a quiet affair, conversation dominated by Leia, Finn, Poe and Holdo. Afterwards Poe drove Leia into town to run some errands, Finn and Ben headed outside, while Rey and Rose joined Holdo in the kitchen, where she was baking loaves of bread. They perched on stools across the island from where Holdo was kneading a pile of dough in a bowl. Three similar bowls were arranged around her. They asked her how she came to work at the Columbia Inn.

“I've known the General forever, since we were kids. We lost touch after high school but reconnected when I was hired at Temple. Professor of Philosophy, but I loved cooking and baking and always wanted to run my own bakery, hence—” She gestured around the room. “Anyway, being in the same city, she had just been widowed and needed a friend, it was good timing.”

Rey picked a cashew out of the bowl of mixed nuts on the counter. “So you knew Ben and Finn when they were kids?”

Holdo smiled fondly. “Since they were about ten, I guess. I encouraged her to take in Finn; you can ask him about that if you want to know more. Let's just say everybody needed a family, and they were all there to make it work.”

Rose asked her if she was interested in the Nerf Herder show.

Holdo shook her head. “I’ve never watched any of the Nerf Herder stuff, never wanted to.”

Rose gasped in shock, and Rey could only chuckle. “We could watch an episode on my phone right now!” Rose started to dig her phone out of her pocket, but Holdo put up one flour-coated hand.

“No, thank you. I want to concentrate on my bread. But why don’t you tell me about it? What’s it like? I know it’s supposed to be funny.”

Rose nodded and settled back onto the stool, grabbing a handful of nuts. “It is funny. It’s… absurd, I guess you could say. Some of it doesn’t make a lot of sense. The two of them play different pairs of recurring characters, and sometimes those characters get mixed up and it confuses the stories. The most frequent characters are Kylo Ren and Trooper. Kylo Ren is a kind of knight; Ben wears a mask with this creepy-sounding voice modulator and a black cape when he’s Kylo. Finn plays Trooper, duh, he’s like Kylo’s sidekick, but they don’t really get along. He wears all white, and a white mask. Anyway Trooper has this pet, a stuffed porg he carries around everywhere, but Kylo wants Trooper all to himself so he’s  _ totally _ jealous of it, he’s always trying to whack it, but he ends up getting whacked instead.”

Holdo was nodding and frowning. “What do you mean, whacking? And what’s a porg? And they have a love triangle with a stuffed animal?”

Rose’s mouth was full of nuts so Rey replied. “Whacking with foam swords. That’s where the Nerf part of their name comes in, it’s the brand name of the toy swords. And porgs are pretend animals from the  _ Celestial Strife _ movies, they’re like fuzzy little birds with big eyes. They call the porg ‘Scruffy,’ which is where they get the other part of their name. And, uh, yeah I guess. A love triangle.”

Holdo kept nodding and frowning, fists steadily working the dough, looking just a bit boggled. “Okay. So, whacking. Whacking and jealousy. What else?”

Rose picked up the thread. “So they have other pairs of characters that come and go: a father and son, a couple of Frenchmen, an Elvis impersonator and a David Bowie impersonator, a pair of folk singers, hipsters, stuff like that. Oh, and a pair of brothers named Ben and Finn, who seem to be almost but not exactly the real guys. And as I said sometimes they get mixed up, so you’ll have like Kylo and the David Bowie impersonator in a scene together. But there’s kind of an overarching story? They’re looking for something, but we don’t know what. So it’s like an epic search but broken into bits with these different pairs of characters having their own crazy little adventures. But it feels like it’s moving towards something.” Holdo looked confused, so Rose turned to her friend. “I’m afraid I’m not explaining this well, Rey, can you help?”

Rey shrugged. “I mean, that’s about it. It works well on screen. They do like 10 minute shows in what I guess is their apartment, and then out around the city sometimes. The Kylo and Trooper bits they do in Central Park. I’m curious how they do it on stage.”

“Oh, I asked Finn about that in the car,” Rose said around a mouthful of nuts. _Of course you did_ , Rey thought, but she didn’t say anything. “He said the stage shows are stand-alones. The same kind of schtick, but not part of the epic. And they’re about half scripted and half improv, so there’s some interaction with the audience.”

“Do they sing?” Holdo asked as she turned the dough out and prepared to form it into a loaf.

Rose drew her eyebrows together in thought, but Rey answered immediately. “No, not at all. Not even the folk singers sing. Why do you ask?”

Holdo shrugged and pinched the edges of the dough, then dropped it into the pan. “There was always a lot of singing in the house, and they were in chorus in school. Just curious if that made it into the show.”

Rey was contemplating this when the door opened and Finn stepped in and took a seat on the stool on the other side of Rose. Rey noticed that their shoulders touched, just barely. He nodded at them all, and she did her best to look cool. Rose didn’t look cool at all.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” he asked, helping himself to a handful of nuts.

“We were just telling Holdo about the Nerf Herders,” Rose answered, giving him a smile. “Where’s Ben?”

“Ben went to take a nap, he didn’t sleep much overnight.” He chewed a moment, then addressed Holdo. “Still never watched, eh, Holdo?”

The older woman shook her head. “Never even thought about it.” But she was smiling. “I have, however, heard of Sunflower. You ladies are _talented_.” She punctuated the word with a punch into the second bowl of dough. “That song on the radio, _What You Love_? I love that song, is what I love.”

Rey grinned, she couldn’t help it. She still couldn’t believe her luck sometimes, with her success doing the thing she loved the most. It had been a lot of work, and it just felt good to know that she and Rose were making something that other people loved and appreciated.

Finn nodded. “Yeah, you guys have the most beautiful voices, and they blend so well. Maybe we can get a private show sometime this week?” His knee pushed against Rose, who blushed, and Rey coughed.

“Oh, I’d like that!” exclaimed Holdo, as she formed another loaf, completely oblivious to the politics happening on the other side of the island.

Slipping his arm around Rose’s waist, Finn changed the subject. “Holdo, real talk: how’s the inn doing financially? Poe said you’d had a bunch of cancellations because of the lack of snow. Leia will never share that with us, and Poe doesn’t know the details. I know that you know what’s going on. Can you tell us?”

Rey had to admit she was impressed by Finn’s ability to dig for information, and Holdo was apparently as susceptible to his charms as Rose was. She didn’t even prevaricate. “Finn, it’s bad. If the season doesn’t improve by next month she won’t be able to pay the bills, even if Poe and I work for free. And without the snow, there’s no reason for people to come stay. This weather is going to destroy us.” She punched the dough for emphasis.

“I can think of a way to convince people to come.” Even as the words left her lips, Rey couldn’t believe she was saying it. Wasn’t she just thinking that she didn’t need any more complications? But Leia needed help.

The other three looked at her quizzically. “I’m talking about a show. What if we all put on a show? Sunflower and Nerf Herders, Christmas Eve show, paying guests only.”

Rose and Finn traded a grin. “That’s such a great idea, Rey!” Rose cheered. “We can sing a few of our songs, the guys can do some skits, it’ll be fun.”

Finn looked thoughtful. “Hey, how about we combine forces, too? Would you guys consider doing a skit with us?”

Rey had to admit the idea wasn’t a terrible one. “Maybe. Would you guys consider singing with us?”

“Ah, nooooo, I don’t think so. Neither of us can sing that well.”

Rose shrugged and took another handful of nuts. “Let’s think about it. Maybe we can come up with a couple of funny songs that don’t rely on beautiful harmonics. It would be fun to sing with you though, wouldn’t it Rey?”

Rey nodded. She was actually starting to get a little excited. “Finn, before we get too caught up we should probably talk to Leia and Ben and make sure they're okay with this.”

Holdo spoke up from her last ball of dough. “They'll both be fine with it, I'm sure; anything to get people in the door. You ladies should probably talk to your agents or something, right? Make sure this wouldn't go against any of your contractual obligations.”

Rey hopped off the stool. “Yeah, that's a good idea. Holdo, can I use the inn phone to call Hux?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're still pretty close to the movie plot. 
> 
> The Anderson School of Music doesn't exist. In the story it's a private conservatory located in Philadelphia. It's named after [Marian Anderson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson), an African-American concert soloist from Philadelphia who was active in the mid-20th century and who had to put up with a lot of crap to be able to perform for the audiences who wanted to hear her. She was amazing, [had a beautiful voice](https://youtu.be/mAONYTMf2pk), and I'm thrilled that the school in this story bears her name.
> 
>  _cô_ = a Vietnamese term meaning "a woman who is slightly younger than my parents" (Rose is teasing Rey a bit when she calls her this)
> 
> Oh my goodness sunbug made me an art!!! I love it!!!! ([here is the original on Tumblr](http://alicestill.tumblr.com/post/181247084519/no-snow-leofgyth-and-lovethemfiercely-have))  
> 


	3. Five days to Christmas (part two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *breathes* Hux.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I don't know when Hux even became part of this story, but here he is. Please love him, he is trying so hard.

“This is Hux.” His voice was nasal and clipped; he sounded exactly like himself.

“Hey Hux, this is Rey Niima, calling you from the Columbia Inn in beautiful Pine Tree, Vermont.”

Hux sounded both unsurprised and bored, which was typical for him. “Sounds lovely. How’s the snow?” 

“There’s no snow, Hux, that’s the problem. The weather is supposed to be in the 50s all week, and probably for the week after.”

He sniffed audibly. “That sounds wonderful to me. What on earth is the problem, exactly? I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon. Also, why aren’t you calling from your usual number?”

Rey rolled her eyes. “There’s no cell service up here, so I’m using the inn’s house phone. Jot down this number in case you need it. Anyway, here’s the thing. The inn doesn’t have any guests aside from us, and if they don’t get guests soon they won’t be able to pay the bills, and they’ll go out of business.” She stopped talking and was greeted by a long stretch of absolute silence on the other end. 

Eventually, Hux found his voice. She could hear the creak of his chair, and she imagined him leaning back and rubbing his forehead with his long, thin fingers. “Why on _earth_ do you care, Rey? Are you in the market to purchase a failed inn?”

“Of course not! The Columbia Inn is owned by an old friend. An old professor, actually, from Anderson, someone I owe a lot to. And Rose and I were thinking we could, um, put on a show, on Christmas Eve. Bring people up to see us, stay in the inn overnight, maybe a few nights. And, anyway, I wanted to check that it wouldn’t be going against any of our contractual obligations, or something. Um.” Rey was getting more nervous as she spoke.

On the other end of the line Hux sighed, loudly. “Absolutely not, Rey. _Do not do this_.” He was adamant. “Sunflower is hot, and this would be absolutely beneath you. A terrible business decision. Write him a check, or something, if you have to.” She could imagine him waving his hand in front of his face, as he so often did when dismissing someone else’s ideas.

Rey was not going to give up so easily. “So you’re advising us not to, but you’re not saying we _can’t_. Like, there aren’t any contracts that keep us from doing something like this.”

Hux sighed and was silent for a moment. “No. There’s no legal reason not to do it. I’m very curious, though, who _is_ this person? Why on earth would you consider doing this for some old professor?”

“She’s not _some old professor_ , Hux, she’s Professor Leia Organa. She was the head of department for years; I basically owe her my professional life. If not for Leia Organa, I have no idea where I’d be right now.”

There was stunned silence on the other end of the line. “Rey, did you say _Leia Organa_?”

“... Yes? Leia Organa.”

“Leia Organa, former Metropolitan Opera mezzo soprano soloist Leia Organa?” Hux sounded… excited? Which was very strange. Hux was never excited about anything, unless he was shouting at an underling or some poor barista at Starbucks who got his order wrong.

Rey closed her eyes. “The very same, Hux. But she hasn’t performed at all, as far as I know, since the mid-eighties.”

She could hear the chair on the other end of the line creak again. “Do it, Rey. Do this show. I’ll come up tonight and help myself. I’ll book my ticket straightaway and will email you the details within ten minutes. See you soon.”

“Yes? See you soon,” Rey replied, but Hux had already hung up the phone. Very interesting.

* * *

Rey joined the others back in the kitchen afterwards; the bread was now rising in the pans and Holdo had moved on to dinner prep, putting everyone to work in the process. Rey’s heart clenched to see Rose and Finn side-by-side chopping vegetables, but she swallowed her emotions to focus on the news at hand.

“So, Hux loves the idea, he’s fully in support of it. In fact he wants to come up and help.”

Rose threw Rey an incredulous glance over her shoulder. “Are you kidding me, Hux approves _and_ he’s coming up here?” Seeing Finn’s expression of curiosity, she explained, “Hux is a bit… aloof? Indifferent?”

Rey scoffed. “He’s generally an asshole. But he’s good at his job, and he’s been very supportive of us. No, Rose, he was not at all in favor of the idea until I mentioned that the inn in question is owned by Leia Organa. Apparently he’s a fan.”

Holdo called over from the stove. “So it’s all about his own self interest?” Rey nodded, and Holdo turned back to the steaming pot in front of her and sniffed audibly. “ _Quid pro quo_ , I suppose.”

Rey wasn't sure how to respond to that; it was just the way things were. “Er. Right. So, he’s flying up tonight. Can Poe meet him at the airport? I can give him the full flight information. And he’ll need a room, too.”

“A room won’t be a problem, we have plenty of those to spare. Although we may need to reevaluate if the show happens.” Holdo shook some salt into the pot. “If you write down his flight info I’ll make sure Poe gets it.” She pointed at a built-in desk in the corner of the kitchen. “Paper and pen are over there.”

Rey copied down the information from her email for Holdo. They seemed to have things under control in the kitchen, so she decided it was a good time to finally get a nap of her own. Rose and Finn agreed to meet after dinner to start planning the show, and Rey headed back to her room to sleep for a few hours.

* * *

Ben had a very satisfying nap that lasted most of the afternoon, and by the time he’d awakened and had a shower he was finally feeling relaxed enough to face the world, or at least to face a glass of whiskey before dinner. He was worried about the inn, and he was worried about his mom, and he needed to fortify himself before he put his mind to ways he might be able to help. He knew that she’d put everything into the inn, all her savings and her pension, and if she lost it she wouldn’t have anything to fall back on. He and Finn would always be there for her, but comedy didn’t pay well and if things really went south they might have to give up their dream in order to support her. 

He’d just helped himself to the Tyrconnell when Finn cornered him at the bar to tell him about the plan to have a live show on Christmas Eve. It appeared that Finn had anticipated all of Ben’s concerns.

“One night only, here in the ski lodge. Paying guests only, which’ll limit the number of people in the audience. No recording allowed, what happens here stays here. We’ll use existing material. Sunflower will sing their biggest hits, and we’ll fill in with some funny stuff. We’ll need to come up with a big finish, but we have a few days to figure that out.” He hesitated, then leaned over and whispered. “This could be great for us. Our little show, paired with them? If this goes well it could really open up new avenues for us. You could stop working at Starbucks. I know you would _love_ to not have to work at Starbucks.”

He wasn’t wrong. Ben took a sip of the whiskey and contemplated his friend over the edge of the glass. Finn began to shy away under his gaze and Ben smiled inwardly. “That sounds a bit more calculating than you usually are, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. Are you sure your interest in this doesn’t have more to do with a certain Sunflower?”

Finn took a step back and leaned against the bar. “Is it that obvious?”

“Are you kidding? You’ve been throwing yourselves at each other since we met on the train. I’ll be surprised if you’re not engaged by the end of the holiday.” He smiled into his drink, even as there was a pang in his heart. “She’s great, you’d be lucky to have each other. I hope it works out.”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Finn clasped his hands together and sighed. “I’m afraid I’ve been leading her on.” Ben coughed into his drink and Finn continued quickly. “I don’t mean that I’m not interested, Ben, of course I’m interested. But I’ve been laying it on thick and she’s so _receptive_ , and I really like her. I like her more than any girl I’ve met in a long time.”

“And you meet a lot of girls…” 

“I do. Yes, I do. But she’s different, and I’m not talking about her talent. I mean she’s easy to talk to, and I’m interested in what she has to say, too. She’s so _funny_ , Ben, and she’s pretty, and just… I like her, and I’m afraid that she’s going to think I’m only interested in going to bed with her, and I’m not.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. “You’re not interested in going to bed with her?” This earned him a punch on the shoulder.

“ _Of course_ I’m interested in going to bed with her, Jesus. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to do that immediately. Which is tough, because we’re stuck here in an inn in the country with not much else to do.”

Ben clinked the ice in the bottom of his glass. “Except to plan a show.”

“ _Yes_ , the show, exactly. So the show is a way for us to work together, keep testing this thing to see how well we get along, and it also keeps us busy so we’re less likely to, you know.”

“Go to your room and have your way with each other all afternoon.”

Finn’s cheeks flushed crimson and his eyes opened wide. “Right. Definitely not. Anyway. What about you and Rey?”

Ben was glad he had so much experience schooling his expression, so he hoped his surprise didn’t show. He answered as calmly as he could. “What about me and Rey?”

His friend just laughed. “You can’t fool me, man, I saw the way you looked at her on the train, and in the van, and at lunch. You’re into her! That’s great! It wouldn’t hurt you to have some female company, even if you’re just holding hands and telling secrets. It’s been months, right. Since Bazine?”

“Yes.” Ben reached for the bottle and poured himself another glass of whiskey. “Eight months. It’s fine.”

Finn nodded. “It is fine. But Rey is here, and she’s pretty, and you guys are going to be working closely together for the next week or so, and then you’ll have a whole other week in her company. So you can at least be friendly, right?” He winked. “If you can spend forty-five minutes with her that’ll give me forty-five minutes to spend alone with Rose.”

Ben tipped his glass at Finn. “Forty-five minutes is just enough time to get into trouble.”

“It’s enough time to get into trouble two or three times, if you’re really good.” The men laughed, and Finn headed out, leaving Ben alone with his whiskey and the open fire, some moments with himself and his thoughts before it’s time for before dinner. 

* * *

At dinner, Leia regaled them with stories of her 1979 European tour. She’d visited Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and many other major cities; it was also the tour during which she met the man who would become her husband, and Ben’s father. Afterwards, Rey, Rose, Finn and Ben sat down and started planning the setlist. They decided on a set that would give them a solid three hours, including Sunflower’s biggest hits, a few ones they’d been working on but hadn’t yet recorded, and a handful of classic Christmas songs: Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Silver Bells, and, of course, White Christmas. The Nerf Herders would do their most popular skits: one with the father and son, a couple with the hipster, and of course several with Kylo Ren, Trooper, and Scruffy. 

They had just turned to the final act, the one during which they planned to combine their acts together, when Armitage Hux arrived. Rey left the others in the ski lodge and went to the lobby to welcome him; Poe caught her by the elbow at the door.

He leaned close and spoke softly. “Your agent? He’s an asshole, Rey.”

Rey cringed apologetically. “Poe, I’m _so_ sorry, I should have warned you, but I’m used to it and I just didn’t think of it…” But the man interrupted her with a shake of his head.

“No, Rey, it’s fine. I kind of like it. A bit of a challenge, maybe. I think he might be a tootsie pop.” Poe nodded to himself and bit his bottom lip. “Yeah. He’s a tootsie pop.”

“What do you mean? Like the candy?”

Poe smiled slowly. “Yeah, like he has this hard shell but underneath it there’s a soft center.” 

Rey hummed. “If he has a soft center I’ve never seen it, but good luck to you.”

“Maybe,” Poe said, narrowing his eyes, “maybe you just haven’t sucked hard enough.” He laughed at the choking noise she made, then moved to head into the ski lodge before Rey held him back.

“Out of curiosity, what kind of candy are Ben and Finn?”

Poe considered her with a crooked smile. “Ben and Finn, huh. Well they're both sweet and soft all the way through, so let's say they're solid nougat.”

“No nuts or any other kind of nasty surprises in there?”

Poe shook his head emphatically. His expression transformed into something more serious. “Absolutely not. I've known those boys for years. Not a bad bone in their bodies. Okay?”

Rey nodded, somewhat appeased, and Poe pushed open the door into the ski lodge as she went to the reception desk to greet her agent.

When Rey reached the lobby Holdo was behind the desk checking Hux in, and he was in front of the desk talking with Leia. Armitage Hux was a tall, thin man with an arresting mien. His clothing generally consisted of shades of black, and today was no exception, although he was a bit more informally dressed than usual, in black trousers and a cashmere sweater to match. His hair was was straight and the color of copper, parted on one side and cut so it fell just above his right eye. He had a sharp face containing bright blue eyes surrounded by long eyelashes that were so blonde they were almost invisible, and he had surprisingly plush, pink lips set in a permanent frown. His general expression ranged from a slight sneer to a forceful sneer, but at this moment he was more animated than Rey’d ever seen him in four years of acquaintance. To see him smiling openly, by all appearances genuinely, at Leia Organa was a terrific shock. He hadn’t even smiled when Sunflower’s second album went Gold. 

“Missus Organa, I can’t even tell you what a pleasure it is to finally meet you,” Rey heard him say as she stepped up behind her former professor. He took her hand and bowed down and… kissed it? 

“Who are you, and what have you done with my agent?” Rey laughed as she stepped around Leia. Hux stood back up straight and sneered at her; this was the Hux she knew and… well, not _loved_ , but respected in any case, and she immediately felt more at ease. Smiling Hux was just a bit weird.

Leia smiled up at her. “This young man was just introducing himself to me; I suppose he’s the agent you were telling me about?” Hux looked thrilled that she might already have heard about him.

Rey nodded. “Yes. Leia, this is Armitage Hux, Sunflower's agent from the very start. He heard us singing in Times Square, of all places, and got us all figured out. We owe him a great deal, he’s been immensely supportive. Hux, this is Leia Organa, she owns the Columbia Inn and she was the head of the vocal arts department at Anderson most of the time I was a student there.”

Hux nodded eagerly and addressed Leia. “Missus Organa, I'm such a fan. My mother owned several of your records, I was particularly fond of the recordings from your European Tour of 1979. I am ashamed to say I played it to death when I was quite young, the vinyl got all scratched up and she ended up throwing it out and getting a CD. I still listen to it, on occasion. Your rendition of Bizet’s _“_ L'amour est un oiseau rebelle” is perfection itself.” He finally slowed and then stopped talking completely, his eyes wet, cheeks pink. He seemed to realize what he’d done, and stood up straight, returning his face to its usual sour expression; perhaps just a bit more sweet than usual. 

Rey watched in amusement as Leia, her own cheeks quite pink, took his hand and held it in both of hers. “Mister Hux, it is a pleasure to meet you, but please call me Leia, or even the General - that's what the boys call me. No one has _ever_ called me Missus Organa.”

He bowed again. “The pleasure is all mine, Leia. Please call me Armitage.” Rey’s eyebrows approached her hairline. She knew for a fact that Hux lost his temper if anyone as much as suggested referring to him by his given name. Interesting.

Leading him over to a grouping of puffy leather armchairs, Leia took a seat and Hux and Rey quickly followed suit. She set her chin on her hand and gazed at him keenly. “Armitage, are you by chance related to the Manhattan Huxes?”

Hux sat up straight, crossed his long legs, and positively glowed. “Yes, of course! My father was Brendol Hux, the second son of Abraham P. Hux.” He turned to Rey to explain. “Abraham H. Parnassus, my great-grandmother’s father, was the scion of the great Parnassus oil dynasty down in Texas. My great-grandmother married Kevin Hux, an, um, entrepreneur well-known in Manhattan at the time, and she brought the family fortune up to New York where they continued to grow it, and spread it around. They have been major patrons to the Met for four generations now, and hopefully it will be five, someday, or more.”

Leia was nodding. “And the Hux Gallery at MOMA is your family as well, isn’t it?”

Hux lowered his head. “Indeed. My uncle, Brian, made the donation that led to the Hux Gallery.”

Rey was flabbergasted. “Hux, I had no idea you were part of any kind of dynasty, or anything like that. I thought you were from England, too! Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”

As soon as his eyes were off Leia he was sneering again. “I was sent to Eton as a boy for school, and continued my studies at Cambridge. I decided I liked the accent so I kept it.”

There was a tap on Rey’s shoulder and Rose was there, asking her to come back to help with brainstorming for the final act. Rose nodded at Hux, and they left him there with Leia, talking about Manhattan opera culture and gossiping about the various dynastic families that formed the core of the patron class. 

Their voices carried across the lobby, and as they pushed through the door into the ski lodge, a loud laugh that could only be from Hux emanated from behind them. 

Rose’s eyes were wide and disbelieving. “What the _actual_ fuck? Who is that man and what has he done with our agent?”

“That’s what I said!” Rey cried. This was a side of Hux they did not imagine existed. Perhaps Poe was right; perhaps Hux was a tootsie pop after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “L'amour est un oiseau rebelle” (aka "Habanera") is a song you probably know, even if you don't think you know it. It's an aria from Bizet's opera _Carmen_ , and it will play an important role in this story so if you're curious please [hop over to YouTube and watch this version](https://youtu.be/K2snTkaD64U), which I have watched so many times in the past month I can't even tell you, I love it so much.
> 
> Someone asked about what the Columbia Inn looks like, so here are some shots from the original White Christmas film to give you an idea of the layout.
> 
> (Clockwise from upper left): 1) Inside the ski lodge (bar to the left, stage behind them); 2) Outside (Inn on the left, ski lodge on the right); 3) Sitting next to the fire pit; 4) The Lobby (check-in desk is offscreen to the left, stairs right there, door to the ski lodge visible straight ahead)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for coming back to read about what happened on Thursday! Come back again tomorrow for Friday!


	4. Four days to Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rehearsals and planning, a few songs, a little bit of bonding, a little bit of _romance_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has LoveThemFiercely as co-author which means... Sunflower singing!!!

The next day was dedicated to rehearsals and planning. Hux claimed responsibility for advertising the event; they all agreed that the best idea was to focus attention on Boston, New York City, and Philly, figuring that people in those cities would be close enough to make quick Christmas plans and would be able to afford the expense. At Hux's insistence Leia quadrupled the usual room rate. “Sunflower is hot. An intimate show with them, including overnight accommodation? This is a _steal_.”

“Plus the Nerf Herders!” Rose piped up at his elbow.

He sniffed. “I suppose.” Hux was much less impressed with the comic duo’s work than the singers were, but he acknowledged their popularity and was willing to leverage it for Leia’s benefit.

Hux made several calls on the inn phone, with only minimal complaints about the lack of cell service. Meanwhile Finn and Ben claimed the stage in the ski lodge for their rehearsals, making the reasonable argument that their skits, involving movements and sightlines, required the stage area more than the women's singing did. So Rose and Rey retreated to their room to rehearse.

They had decided not to bring the whole band up for the show; it would be best to keep it simple, and it was human kindness to allow them their full two weeks of promised vacation. They would have enough work, and time away from family, during the tour over the spring and summer. Instead, the whole show would be acapella, voices only, without accompaniment. This was exciting, they'd never done a full acapella show, but it was also stressful, especially for Rey.

“I mean, saying we’ll do it acapella is one thing, but actually making it work?” Rey groused as she paced up and down the room, from window to wall. 

Rose sat on one of the beds and hummed to herself, their setlist on a piece of paper in front of her. “We can do it, Rey, we’ll just sing our parts without accompaniment. I mean, the songs are all basically two-part harmony with chords for support. We’re just doing away with the chords.”

Rey shook her head as she took another turn at the window. “I’m not convinced it’ll work, Rose. Some of the harmonies won’t work. And the energy will be all wrong, we get so much from the band. How can we do it without the band? What on earth were we _thinking_?” And she threw herself onto the bed beside Rose.

Rose stroked her hair, but only for a minute, then she nudged her shoulder. “Up, _cô_. We are going to try it my way, and we’ll go from there. Pacing around and complaining isn’t doing any good. Right?”

Rey groaned, but she knew her friend was right. They started with vocal exercises to get warmed up, then moved on to _What You Love_ , their current hit and the one they knew most people would be excited to hear. Rose had written that one when Sunflower was just getting started, as a way to formalize her approach to life. She wanted to make sure she’d never forget; she was thrilled that the song was such a success, and hoped that people would take it to heart.

Rey began the song, starting low but moving slowly up the scale to the end of the phrase:

> You set yourself up to lose  
>  If your hate is all you use  
>  Spend your days in endless, useless fight

Then it was Rose’s turn, her melody an almost direct reversal of the first phrase, starting high and ending low:

> Use your heart, and learn to mend  
>  To protect, and to defend  
>  That's the only way to make it right.

Then the chorus, close two-part harmony, a near-combination of the melodies from the first two phrases. 

> What you love...  
>  Is what you need to save  
>  What you get...  
>  Is always what you gave  
>  When you're scared...  
>  Is when you can be brave  
>  And find out who you are.

On the album the chorus was when the drums kicked in, and Rey was afraid that without them the song would lose its intensity, but the lack of instruments lent the song a hymn-like quality that Rey thought was pretty good, actually.

They ran through it a few times, all three verses, trying it a bit faster, a bit slower, and with hand-claps during the chorus to add some rhythm. What they finally settled on, however, was a slightly slower version that sounded a bit dreamy.

One song down, several more to go. _Breathe. It’ll be fine._

They ran through another song without much angst; Rey was finally starting to feel like they were getting it, like this could actually work really well. Around mid-morning, his responsibilities taken care of, Hux came up to join them, and he didn't come alone. Leia was with him, and she settled herself in an armchair in the corner with a wave of her hand and a “don't mind me,” so they continued. Hux perched on the arm of the chair, as though he couldn’t bear to be apart from her.

The next song was _No One’s From Nowhere_ , the breakthrough song off their first album and one the women had co-written when they were still in conservatory; in fact, it was the very first song they wrote together. Rey had been dreading this one, the harmonies were complicated and its sound depended very much on the accompaniment. 

The verses were, remarkably, just fine in two part harmony:

> No one's from nowhere  
>  We aren't where we've been  
>  Somedays and no one  
>  That's how you begin
> 
> Things that we've chosen  
>  And people who care  
>  Will help us be someone  
>  Belonging somewhere
> 
> No matter how lonely,  
>  How painful, how far  
>  You've traveled to get here  
>  Be glad that you are.
> 
> You start where you came from  
>  You ramble, you roam  
>  In living and loving  
>  You'll find your way home.
> 
> However you find it  
>  Whatever you share  
>  You're someone from someplace  
>  And everyone's there

The chorus was much bigger problem. It was written for three voices, and although most of it worked pretty well with two voices, the last line just didn’t:

> No one's from nowhere, that's true  
>  And when you were no one, you knew  
>  You ran and you fought and you flew  
>  And...sometime...somewhere...someone was waiting for you.

They needed one voice on “sometime,” the second to come in on “somewhere,” and the third on “someone”; usually someone from the band would take the third line. It simply didn’t sound good with just the two of them, and they weren’t having any luck figuring out anything that did work. There was no one else here who could sing that line. Rey found the whole enterprise very upsetting.

Eventually Leia stood and raised her hands. “Ladies, you need to calm down. This, this planning, this work, it’s going to get done. I know it will, because you are professionals and you know what you’re doing. But you’re too worked up. So, what I suggest is that we all take a step back, and do something enjoyable for the next few minutes. It’ll be time for lunch soon, anyway. So let’s do a fun song, maybe something you love but haven’t done for a while. Something you won’t be doing in the show. Okay?”

Rey could see the wisdom in this approach, and the thought of not having to think about the show for a while relaxed her immensely. She looked over to Rose, to find her friend grinning at her with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 

“Rey,” she said, “let’s do _Sisters_.” 

The feeling of sudden joy that washed over Rey was completely unexpected. “We haven’t done that in _years_ , oh my goodness. Do you remember the lyrics?”

Rose nodded. “I do. Do you remember the dance?”

Rey laughed. “I _do_! Oh, don’t forget the scarves,” and she dug into a drawer for a handful of colorful scarves, and handed some of them to Rose.

Hux interrupted with a sneer, still lounging on the arm of the chair. “What is _Sisters_?”

Rose, Rey and Leia all stared at him, but Leia spoke first as she settled herself back in the arm chair. “It’s a classic, Armitage. Irving Berlin? He wrote it for _Orange Autumn_ , one of the great musical films of the 1950s. Anyway,” she grinned at Rey and Rose, standing next to each other in the middle of the clear part of the room, long scarves dangling from their hands, “it’s a beautiful duet about the affection that exists between two sisters and I would _love_ to hear your version of it.”

The younger women traded a giggle, matched pitch, and then started singing.

> Sisters, sisters  
>  There were never such devoted sisters  
>  Never had to have a chaperone, no sir  
>  I'm here to keep my eye on her

They sang the first two lines together, waving the scarves in tandem, taking a few steps forward, then Rey took a line, and then Rose, and as Rose sang her line she flapped the scarves so they covered Rey’s face.

> Caring, sharing  
>  Every little thing that we are wearing  
>  When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome  
>  She wore the dress and I stayed home

The next phrase was similar. When they sang the first two lines together they bumped hips, and on her line Rose dropped her scarves, forcing Rey to pick them up, which Rey did, shoving them back at the other woman in mock annoyance. And all through this, they were singing.

The next phrase they sang together, dancing around with the scarves, mostly acting silly and getting in each other’s way.

> All kinds of weather  
>  We stick together  
>  The same in the rain or sun  
>  Two different faces  
>  But in tight places  
>  We think and we act as one... uh-huh

They were reaching the climax of the song; the rest they’d sing together.

> Those who've seen us  
>  Know that not a thing could come between us  
>  Many men have tried to split us up but no one can

With a shout, Leia jumped up out of her chair and joined them for the last chorus. 

> Lord help the mister  
>  Who comes between me and my sister  
>  And lord help the sister who comes between me and my man

As they were singing the last line, Leia grabbed the scarves out of Rose’s hand, turned around and hit Rey in the face with them:

> Sister!

Without slowing down, she turned back to Rose and hit her with them in turn:

> Sister!

Finally, she turned and hit Rey _again_ , but by this time Rey was laughing so hard she could barely sing anyway:

> Sister don't come between me and my man!

Rey and Rose collapsed on the floor in convulsions of giggles, Leia fell onto one of the beds, and Hux jumped up out of his chair, clapping and shouting “Bravo! Bravo! Encore!” Rey stole a glance at Leia, who had tears of joy running down her face. She’d only heard her former professor sing six lines of the song, but it was clear that her voice was as strong and beautiful as ever. She wondered - could there be a way to get Leia to sing in the show, too?

* * *

At noon, everyone gathered for lunch in the ski lodge. There was general agreement that rehearsals were going very well. Hux couldn't stop talking about Leia, to her obvious delight.

After lunch, Rey and Ben joined Leia for a walk in the back garden before it was time to head back in for rehearsals. They'd spend the afternoon working on the final act. They were having trouble coming up with a concept that worked for all of them. But Leia didn't want to talk about that; she wanted to thank Ben and Rey, and to reassure them that she had a back-up plan if the inn didn’t pan out.

“I’m going back to the opera.”

Rey and Ben both gasped and Ben embraced her while she laughed in surprise. “Mom, that's so great, I know you've missed the opera. Where, what show? Tell us everything.”

“It's a secret for now, so please don't tell anyone, but I've been in touch with Ransolm Casterfo. He's the general director down at the Metropolitan Opera, and he graduated from Anderson, we go way back. Anyway I sent him a letter, so old fashioned, I know, asking if I can come down for some shows. My voice is still strong, I have so much to offer. Anyway, that could be a good boost, we wouldn't be completely reliant on income from the inn to survive.”

“Mom, that would be amazing. I would love to see you on stage.”

“Hux would too,” added Rey, and they all laughed. “When do you expect to hear back from Mister Casterfo?”

With a grin and a twinkle in her eye, Leia pulled a folded envelope out of the pocket of her dress. “The letter arrived this morning, Poe gave it to me at lunch but I haven't had a chance to open it. And, oh dear, I seem to have forgotten my reading glasses. Ben, honey, would you mind reading this for me? I don't mind both of you hearing the contents of this letter.”

Ben pushed his finger under the top of the envelope, ripping along the seam, and pulled out a single sheet of paper, which was covered with lines of a lovely, looping cursive script.

“Dear Leia,” read Ben, “You amazing bitch, it's been…” 

Leia interrupted. “Try skipping to the next paragraph.”

Ben cleared his throat and continued. “It certainly was a surprise hearing from you. Your amusing letter was appreciated more than you imagine. Of course you've got plenty of time to be amusing, sitting on that porch, rocking away, while we put in a full day's work. You always were a lucky woman, and I envy you. A few years more, I was saying to Joseph the other evening, and I'm going to be able to take it easy like Dame Leia.”

Leia's face was still, cheeks flushing, her eyes on the ground. “Dame Leia.”

Ben paused, but she nodded at him so he continued reading. “Oh, well, some people have all the luck. Everyone in the family is fine here. Sophia had the chicken pox, I knew we should have had her immunized but Joseph insisted…”

Leia waved her hand and Ben lowered the letter. “The rest of the letter is about the family.” She took it from Ben and glanced at it, as though to confirm. “He's telling me they have nothing for me, we're not fooling each other.”

“Mom,” Ben started, but Leia shook her head and took a step back, towards the door leading into the kitchen, her expression steely and resigned. 

“Never kid a kidder, honey. Amilyn's been offering to teach me to bake for a while. Cookies, bread. Or sewing? She’s handy with a sewing machine. I never made time before, but you know, all this leisure.” She gestured around them. “How hard can it be to learn?” And she stomped to the kitchen without looking back.

Rey and Ben stood together in silence for several minutes. Ben's face was the neutral still that Rey was used to by now, but his eyes told a different story. They were deep and wet and full of sympathetic pain. He shook his head. “I can't imagine,” but he couldn't finish the thought. Instead he turned towards the edge of the garden and the mountains beyond. He held out the crook of his elbow. “Walk with me?”

Rey took hold of his elbow and they walked, skirting the dead bushes, in companionable silence; until Ben asked her, “Talk to me about your relationship with my mom. Why are you so interested in helping her? I appreciate it, but you don’t really have to, you know?”

She kicked at the brown grass under her feet as they walked around the side of the house. “She changed my life, Ben. I… I had a tough childhood. My parents left me when I was three, and I ended up in foster care, in London. I had a couple of good foster parents; most of them were bad, though.” 

Ben pulled his elbow closer to her body, holding her hand there. “I’m so sorry, Rey. I didn’t know.”

She laughed, without pleasure. “Yeah, it’s not something I like to talk about. Eventually it will get out, but I’m in no hurry for that to happen. Anyway, my last foster parent, she was pretty good. She had a lot of kids under her care, but still found time for me, which I appreciated. She heard me singing, and thought I was good, so she encouraged me. I got into chorus at school, and long story short I ended up applying to Anderson.” She glanced up to see Ben gazing down at her, with his impenetrable aspect and expressive eyes. Clearing her throat, she continued. “It was a long shot, the longest shot, but I got in, and I got the Anderson Fellowship, that’s _the fellowship_. They award one a year, to the top prospect, and it pays for everything. I couldn’t have done it without that. Anyway, I ended up studying with Mon Mothma, she got her start in Sydney?”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, I know Mon.”

“I figured. So, when Professor Organa announced her retirement we had a big party, and I ended up out on a deck with Mon. She’d… had a bit to drink, you could say. She was telling me about how great she was, Leia I mean, and ended up sharing with me that it was Leia _personally_ who’d picked my application and selected me for the fellowship.” Rey stopped their slow pace; they’d been walking aimlessly, and were under a tree now, still half-clad in dry, dead leaves. She found the strength to meet Ben’s eyes, honey-brown and full of sadness. “Leia _changed my life_ , Ben. I’ve no idea where I’d be without her. I owe her everything. That’s why I want to help her. Okay?”

Ben nodded, his eyes flitting around her face, settling, she thought, on her mouth. “Yes. Okay.”

He tugged her arm gently, and they resumed their stroll, ending up at the front porch of the inn just as Hux and Poe arrived from the other direction. Rey noted that they were walking very close together, although not touching. Ben nodded at them, and Poe knocked his shoulder against Hux’s, smiling. Hux’s scowl softened, perhaps, just a touch. 

“Ah, this weather is nice; but I'm sure the General has some work or other for me to do inside,” Poe said as he put a foot on the bottom step. 

“Yeah, I should go back inside too, Finn’ll be waiting for me,” Ben sighed as he extracted his elbow from Rey and gave her hand a squeeze before joining Poe on the step. 

Hux pulled out his cigarette case and lit one up while the other men said goodbye and headed inside.

Rey watched Poe and Ben walk through the front door then turned her attention back to Hux, standing on the bottom step and smoking his cigarette. “So, you and Poe seem pretty friendly.”

Hux sneered and took a long drag. “He's not completely terrible.”

Rey chuckled. “Oh, come on, you like him. Just admit it. It's nice to like people.”

His sneer softened, just a touch. “I hate him less than I hate everyone else. How's that?” He watched her, eyebrows raised, while he took another long drag.

“That’ll do, I guess.” She sighed and looked over at the creek that marked the edge of the property.

“How about you and the tall, sad man? You're looking friendly.”

She didn’t move. “I like him, I think. He's worried about his mom, and I am too.”

Hux frowned in confusion. “Why do you care about his mom, you barely know him.”

“That’s Ben Solo, his mom is Leia Organa, the reason you’re here. Good grief, do you ever pay attention to anything?”

“Oh! The other son! Right, sorry, I guess I am still catching up with the details.” He seemed quite embarrassed, which was unusual for Hux, so Rey just smiled and let it drop.

“So anyway, she had written down to the Met asking if she could do some shows, you know, make a comeback, and they said no. She just got the letter, and she's really upset and so is Ben.” She wrung her hands. “So this show is great and will bring in paying guests, but she's still going to feel terrible. I wish there was something else we could do.”

Hux narrowed his eyes. 

“Ransolm Casterfo?”

“Yeah.”

Hux blew the last of the smoke out through his nose, put out his cigarette, and closed the butt back up in his case. “Rey, tell me. How many graduates of Anderson's vocal arts department do you think are still in the Northeast, say from Philadelphia up to here?”

Rey shrugged. “I don't know. Lots of them in New York and Boston alone, I'd guess. Dozens, maybe a hundred, or more. Why do you ask?”

“Well, how about a reunion? Invite all the graduates on the Northeast seaboard up here for the show. It would be tight to fit everyone in the ski lodge, but how great would it be to show her how much the graduates still love her, even if the snobs down at the Met don't?”

“Hux, you _are_ one of the snobs down at the Met. You are like _the original snob_. What has come over you?”

“I've met my idol and she's better than I imagined, and this place has me feeling generally, I don't know. Feeling. I don't really like it. Anyway, if you approve of the idea, I'll get the invitations sent.”

“Where will they stay? The inn needs to be available for the show guests.”

Hux waved his hand, as though to brush away all her concerns. “I'll book all the hotel rooms in town, and we'll have shuttle buses on the night of the show. I'll pay for it all.”

“Hux!” Rey gasped in sincere shock.

“What's the point of having a trust fund if I don't get to play with it? This will help Leia understand how well-loved she is, be good publicity for Columbia Inn and for Anderson, and it will make both Sunflower and the Nerf Herders look great.”

“I know you, Hux. This is revenge. It will also make the Met look bad for turning down her offer.”

He inclined his head slightly. “As you say. So… what do you think?”

“What do I think? I think it’s impossible, ridiculous, and insane.”

“Anything else?”

Rey grinned. “Yeah. I wish I’d thought of it first!”

Before they started the afternoon rehearsal Rey told everyone about Hux's plan for a reunion. Ben liked it so much he almost smiled, which made both her belly and ears warm. Holdo insisted that the reunion be a surprise for Leia, and Poe backed her up. She promised to take responsibility for Leia's phone, in case anyone decided to email her after receiving an invitation, and stalked away to find it while the rest of them headed to rehearsals.

* * *

Rey woke up in the middle of the night, and it was very cold. She reached for the lamp on her bedside table, but it wouldn’t turn on; apparently the electricity had failed overnight, and the heat had gone off with it. Although the days were relatively warm the nights were near freezing, and the blankets on the bed just weren’t enough to keep her warm.

Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed and took the two steps over to Rose’s bed; surely her best friend in the world wouldn’t mind sharing body heat. 

Rey lifted the blankets and tucked herself in, only to find that, rather than Rose’s warmth, the bed was full of cold nothing. Rose wasn’t there, and given how chilly the bed was she hadn’t been there for a while.

Kicking the blankets down and swearing, Rey considered where her friend could be. 

The was a fire in the ski lodge, in that open fire pit. It was gas, easy to turn on and off. Maybe Rose had gone down there to get warm, and she knew how tired Rey was and didn’t want to wake her up unnecessarily?

It was an option, anyway, and preferable to the alternative, so Rey stepped into her slippers and pulled on her dressing gown - not nearly warm enough, but better than nothing. Stepping into the hallway, she almost ran into a person tiptoeing down the hall. Just managing not to scream, it took a moment for Rey to realize it was: “Poe Dameron! What are you doing over here? I thought you had a private room over in the other wing?”

“Hey, Rey. Sorry I scared you. Yeah, you know, the power went off and I’m just walking the halls, making sure everything’s okay before I go see about the backup generator.” 

“Poe,” Rey said, leaning close in the dim light of the hallway, “is that a lovebite on your neck?”

The man had the decency to look a tiny bit ashamed. “Uh…”

“You were with Hux, weren’t you?” He opened his mouth to answer and she interrupted him. “You know what? I’m happy for you both, especially for him, but I _really_ don’t want to know. Okay?”

He nodded and looked relieved. “Let me walk you down to the ski lodge before I check the generator.” So they walked quietly down the hall and the stairs, through the lobby to the lodge.

The fire was already on; maybe Rose was here after all. Poe left Rey in the doorway and she went over to the fire pit. Her friend wasn’t there, but Ben Solo was. Sitting on one of the padded benches next to the fire, wrapped in a colorful quilt with a mug in his hands.

* * *

Ben had been sitting by the fire for about twenty minutes. He’d awakened when Rose had quietly knocked on the door to the room he shared with Finn, saying she was cold and asking if she could snuggle for warmth. With Finn, she’d specified, _no offence, Ben_. Ben wasn’t offended, and Finn seemed happy to oblige, so Ben had taken his leave and come down to the ski lodge to give them some privacy and try to get warm himself. He was pleased when Rey stepped through the door, looking lovely as usual, hair back up in the same bun and wearing the same pink pajamas, dressing gown, and slippers she’d been wearing the first time he saw her, on the train. Had it only been two days ago? It felt like longer than that. 

“Hey,” he said, standing up from the padded bench and allowing the blanket around his shoulders to fall. 

Rey smiled at him and walked down the three steps towards the fire. “Hi, Ben. Mind if I join you? It’s cold in my room, so I thought I’d come warm myself up here.”

“Please, be my guest,” Ben said, gesturing to the bench, and the blanket. “Wrap yourself up. Would you like some hot chocolate?”

Rey nodded and took a seat, wrapping herself in the blanket, and he went to the bar for a few minutes, bringing back to her a mug full of dark, warm liquid. She inhaled the steam eagerly, closed her eyes and sighed. It was good chocolate; only the best for the Columbia Inn. She took a sip and asked the question he’d been expecting. “Ben, have you seen Rose? She, uh, wasn’t in our room when I woke up.”

Ben picked up his own mug and looked down at her. Her eyes were full of concern; they really didn’t need to be. “Yes, she came up to our room about a half hour ago or so. Said she was cold, wanted to snuggle for warmth.”

“I was right there, in the other bed. She could have snuggled with me.” Her lower lip stuck out in a pout; and it was adorable, whether she was being serious or not. It was a little hard to tell.

Ben took a seat next to her and sighed. “I think it was just an excuse, Rey. I did get that, uh, impression from her. She was pretty excited to have a reason to visit.” He said it with a smile. Rey was clearly unhappy, and he didn’t like seeing her like that. Perhaps he could cheer her up.

She frowned, pulling her eyebrows together, and took another sip of chocolate. She hummed. “This is really good, thank you.” Her face relaxed, just a bit.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, just watching the flames. Rey finally spoke. “Rose and I have been best friends for years. Well, not as long as you and Finn, but since the first day at Anderson. We were matched as roommates the first year, and we’ve been inseparable since. Almost ten years, which feels like forever.” She paused to take another sip, and to pull the blanket higher on her shoulders; then she glanced at Ben just as he shivered, chilly even with his plaid flannel pajamas. “Hey, you’re cold! Get under this quilt with me, it’s nice and toasty.”

Ben could feel his ears turning red, and tried to argue; but she just pulled out the end of the blanket closest to him and threw it over his shoulder as she scooted closer; they were almost touching, hip-to-hip. He could feel warmth of her body, coming off of her in waves. It was comforting and slightly distressing at the same time; but he didn’t want to move. She didn’t seem to notice.

“So anyway, Rose, she just… she likes guys, and she doesn’t always like guys who are good for her. In the years we’ve been friends I’ve spent a lot of time helping her through breakups. And I’m happy to do it! But I’d be happier if she could find someone who deserved her.” Rey paused and glanced over at Ben, who had been watching her as she talked. “You know?”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, I know. You’re worried about Finn.”

Rey puffed out her cheeks and turned to look at the fire. “I am worried about Finn.”

“I don’t really know what to tell you. He’s a great guy, and he really likes Rose. Like, a lot.”

“He told you that?” 

“Yesterday, yeah. He actually said he was afraid of… never mind.” She didn’t need to know all that.

Rey tilted her head, and her voice was cold steel. “Afraid of _what_ , Ben.” Good grief, this woman. She could kill him and he’d thank her. 

“It was a private conversation. I’ll just say that, he's not setting out to break her heart. He wants a relationship with her, I think, and he wants to take things slow. That's what he said to me.”

Her thumb knocked against the side of her mug. “You mean, despite the way he’s been flirting, he probably won’t have sex with her tonight. Is that what you mean?”

Ben took a long swallow of his chocolate. “That’s exactly what I mean. He doesn’t want to rush this, he wants to make sure they really work well together before things get too far.”

Rey was silent for a moment, then let out a protracted sigh. “Well, on one hand, I think that’s good; on the other hand, Rose will be _pissed_ , so I’ll still have to deal with that.”

Ben interpreted this as a joke, and chuckled; luckily Rey chuckled along with him.

They sat in companionable silence; just when Ben was trying to think of the next clever thing to say, the lights around the bar flickered to life. They both cheered, shared a smile, then turned back to the fire.

Rey set her empty mug down on the bench beside her and cleared her throat. “I… I guess we can go back upstairs now, since the electricity is back on.”

Ben hummed. “I don’t know, it’ll take a while for the furnace to warm everything up, I think we can spare a few more minutes here. Don’t you?” He smiled down at her and she grinned back, her cheeks turning the most lovely shade of pink.

“I didn’t think you knew how to smile, Ben, you always look so morose. What happened?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“I guess,” he shrugged, “I just needed something to smile about. And here I am, cozy by the fire, with a pretty lady who also happens to be kind and generous and immensely talented. Why shouldn’t I smile?”

“Gosh.” Her face was now very flushed, and she was biting her lower lip, but she was glowing, so he figured that was good. They looked at each other for a moment, and then she turned back to the fire, but she leaned against him gently at the same time. He relaxed too, and they both sighed.

“You know, Ben,” Rey said softly, “I’m glad I’m here. It’s all weirdly coincidental, that we planned this holiday, and the inn _happened_ to be owned by Leia, and you and Finn _happened_ to be coming at the same time, and Leia _happened_ to need financial help, and Hux _happened_ to be a fan. It just seems really wonderful, and right, you know?” She glanced at him as he nodded, her eyes flitting from his eyes down to his mouth, then back to the fire. She continued, more softly. “I don’t feel like I belong, a lot of the time; because of my childhood, you know. I spend a lot of time feeling alone. But I feel like I belong here.”

“You’re not alone, Rey.” 

She pushed against his shoulder with her own. “Neither are you, Ben.”

“I didn’t say I was.” 

“Yeah, well, just in case.” She pushed against him again, and he pushed her back. It was nice.

“Thank you for telling me so much about yourself, Rey. Earlier. You didn’t have to do that.”

She shrugged. “It was relevant to the conversation. And it’s painful, but it’s not really a secret. And… I don’t know, you seem like a good guy. Like I can… trust you?” Rey’s eyes were lovely, natural, they reminded him of trees in the shadow, and they shone in the firelight.

“I trust you too,” he whispered.

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the edge of the blanket between his thumb and two forefingers. It was a quilt, purchased from one of the local craftspeople, colorful triangles and squares, with a bright red edging. It was soft, and smelled of lavender. “Can I tell you something about myself?”

Rey angled her body towards him, bending her leg and setting her knee between them. “Of course, Ben. You can tell me anything.”

Her sincerity was a bit shocking - hadn’t they just met two days ago? - but there was something about this week that was making everything weird, a bit sideways. What she had said about the coincidence had touched him. It was strange, but it was _right_. Why _shouldn’t_ he tell her anything?

He gazed into the fire. “I was ten when my dad died. He was from Russia. He defected from the Soviet Union so he could marry Leia, did you know that?” Rey shook her head. “Yeah, he met her when she was performing in St. Petersburg during her big tour; apparently it was love at first sight. They wrote letters back and forth for a year and then he somehow got permission to visit the United States, and the first thing he did was to go to the State Department and hand in his passport. He just wanted to be with my mom. He loved her a lot.”

“And she loved him too.”

Ben nodded. “She did. They had trouble communicating, I guess you could say. I don’t mean that he didn’t speak English well, he did, but the culture was so different. He loved that my mom was strong and independent, but he also had a lot of internalized misogyny, so even though he appreciated that about her, he also held it against her, which made things really difficult.”

Rey made a noise; it was sympathetic, encouraging. Like she was really listening. “I was born six years later, and that was when my mom decided to retire from performing and take the job at Anderson. My dad missed New York and blamed my mom for the move, and I felt like he blamed me for being born, for ruining his life. He was… difficult. Or our relationship was, maybe. Anyway, by the time I was ten I kind of hated him, because he wasn’t the dad I wanted him to be. And then he got sick and refused to go to the doctor, and he died of what should have been an easily treatable infection. I blamed him for that, too, especially as I got older, for dying. Because he was no longer around for me to forgive. I’m not even sure if that makes sense.”

There was something warm on the back of Ben’s hand, and he looked down to see Rey’s fingers on his. Silently, he turned his hand over, and they interlaced their fingers.

“I… I know what you mean,” Rey said quietly. “That’s how I feel about my parents. They might still be alive, I don’t know, but even if they are I’ll never be able to find them. Not,” she declared, rubbing her thumb against his knuckles, “that I want to forgive them for deserting me. But I no longer have the option, even if I wanted it.” 

Rey leaned forward, resting her head against Ben’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling me.”

Ben laid his head against hers. “You’re welcome.”

They shared a comfortable silence for several minutes, until Rey spoke up. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to go back to sleep now, I’m too awake,” she said, pulling the blanket around herself more tightly and knocking her heel on the floor. 

“How about a lullaby?”

Rey laughed at this and sat up straight. “Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?”

Ben turned to face her, taking her free hand in his. “What, you think I can’t sing?”

“ _Finn_ said you can’t sing,” she teased. “Are you calling your best friend a liar?”

“Yeah, well, maybe I can’t sing as well as you and Rose, but I’m not a slouch. Please, let me sing to you.”

His seriousness touched Rey, so she nodded. Usually people wanted Rey to sing to them; it was a treat to have someone else, someone special, offer to sing to her instead.

“I’ll sing you a song my mom used to sing to me, when I was little, when I couldn’t sleep. It’s a bit sad, really, but it always relaxes me.” 

Ben cleared his throat and started to sing. His voice was warm and smooth, and pitched higher than Rey thought it would be, given his speaking voice. She found that she very much enjoyed listening to it.

> Mirrorbright, shines the moon, its glow as soft as an ember  
>  When the moon is mirrorbright, take this time to remember

By the time he was through two lines, Rey was humming along; she couldn’t help it.

>   
>  Those you have loved but are gone  
>  Those who kept you so safe and warm  
>  The mirrorbright moon lets you see  
>  Those who have ceased to be

By the final refrain, she was humming experimental harmonies.

> Mirrorbright shines the moon, as fires die to their embers  
>  Those you loved are with you still—  
>  The moon will help you remember

Ben finished singing and grinned at her; it lit his face right up. “That was amazing, Rey, you made up a harmony, just like that.” 

She shrugged, embarrassed. “It’s just what my brain does, when I hear music, I can’t really help it.”

“Sing it with me,” Ben breathed, squeezing her hands in his. “Sing it with me now, please.”

So they sang together, Ben taking the melody and Rey dancing around his voice with sweet harmony. It felt right; a little bit like magic. When they finished, one look at her told him she felt the same way.

“We should do it for the show,” they said together, and laughed. 

Rey sighed, and pulled her hands out of his. “I should really go back upstairs.”

“Just a few more minutes,” Ben whispered, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“Just a few more minutes,” Rey repeated, fisting her hands in his pajama top and pulling him to her.

Rey’s lips were soft and she was so warm and sweet; she tasted like chocolate. They kissed for a few minutes, and that was nice, and then they laid down on the wide bench and kissed some more, and that was also very nice. Rey made noises about going back to her room, but she didn’t follow through, and eventually they fell asleep together, Rey’s back pulled against Ben’s chest, feet entwined under the quilt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're still sticking close to the film, more or less. Except that mine has _moar kissing_.
> 
> In the film, Bing and Danny buy some time for the ladies by performing a parody of their signature song [_Sisters_](https://youtu.be/DDyybi7t634), it's hilarious and I encourage you to go watch it. So the scene with Rey, Rose and Leia plays with this a bit. (There will be other _Sisters_ -influenced scenes later in the story, too.)
> 
> If you prefer the original and you want to see Ben and Finn gussied up as Bing and Danny please slide on over to Tumblr and check out [aionimica's fantastic fan art of that scene (be sure to tell her how much you love it while you are there)](https://aionimica.tumblr.com/post/181392683188/sisters-sisters-obviously-i-had-to-make).
> 
>  _[Mirrorbright](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mirrorbright_\(song\))_ is an Alderannian lullaby first mentioned in the _Bloodline_ novel. I always read it with something like the tune to [Edelweiss](https://youtu.be/8bL2BCiFkTk) (from The Sound of Music) in my head; it's not an exact match, but I like it.
> 
> All of the original song lyrics in this chapter (and elsewhere in the story) are courtesy of [LoveThemFiercely](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveThemFiercely/pseuds/LoveThemFiercely), who is a wonderful writer and a wonderful person. Those chapters that include her song lyrics have her named as a co-author. If you like the lyrics, [please head over to Tumblr and give LoveThemFiercely some love!](https://lovethemfiercely.tumblr.com)
> 
> Another prezzie, this one from Applesith! [Here it is on Tumblr](http://red-applesith.tumblr.com/post/181278916587/small-prezzie-for-leofgyth-who-wrote-the-cutest)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Finally, I like to think that the Columbia Inn is located in the vicinity of [Smuggler's Notch, VT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smugglers_Notch). 
> 
> Thanks for coming back to find out what happened on Friday! Come back tomorrow for Saturday!


	5. Three days to Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOW IT'S JUST GETTING SILLY. Please read it anyway, thank you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves for Finnrose sex talk and general silliness.

Rey woke up with a start, completely confused. She wasn’t in her bed, in her apartment, in Brooklyn. No. She was on holiday. In Vermont, at the Columbia Inn. But she wasn’t in her hotel room, either. She was lying on something… not comfortable. It was warm, though. Her back was especially warm. She pushed against the warmth behind her and… the warmth groaned. That’s when she noticed the long, flannel-covered arm wrapped around her, felt hot breath against the back of her neck, and remembered what had happened the previous night.

“Well, you two look comfy.” The voice belonged to Holdo, who stood between Rey and the fire pit, grinning. “Time to wake up, though. Want some coffee? Breakfast?”

Rey groaned herself and sat up, then took a moment to look down at Ben. His eyes were still closed and his hair was tousled, but he was awake, smacking his lips and rubbing a hand across his face. It was darling, and Rey smiled. “Yes, please, to both. I, uh, need to go up to my room, but I’ll be down again in a few minutes.” She patted Ben on his thigh and he grabbed her hand and kissed it, then let it go so she could leave.

As Rey was going through the door into the inn, she could hear Holdo giving Ben the third degree. “Well, what was _that_ about, huh?”

Rey let herself into the room, quietly, to find Rose back in her bed, sleeping. She tiptoed to the bathroom to do her morning routine and came back out damp and wrapped in a towel. She was expecting to get dressed, only to find Rose awake, still lying in her bed, now turned to face the bathroom door, with tears in her eyes. _Great_.

“Rey, where were you last night? I was worried when I got back and you were gone.” Rose sniffled and rubbed her hand across her nose.

Grabbing a box of tissues from the bedside table, Rey handed them to her friend and sat on the edge of the bed. “It was cold in the night, so I went down to the ski lodge to sit by the fire, and ended up falling asleep.”

Rose was quiet for a minute. “Was Ben there?” 

Rey nodded and reached out to touch her friend’s shoulder. “Yes, he was. We had a lovely time. Have another song for the show, even.”

Rose sat up at that, interested. “Oh yeah? You two singing together?”

“Yes. It turns out his vocal skills were undersold to us. He has a nice voice, great pitch control, and it blends well with mine. The song is a lullaby Leia used to sing to him, so it will be a surprise for her.”

Rose hummed and took another tissue as she tucked her feet behind her. “Sure, that sounds good.” And she blew her nose loudly. “Did you kiss him?”

Rey gave her friend a little smile. “First we drank hot chocolate, then we talked a bit, and sang. Then we did kiss, just a little, and then we fell asleep. It was really sweet. I like him, you know, he’s growing on me.”

“I’m v-very happy for you,” Rose said wetly, dabbing her eyes with the tissue.

Rey's chest squeezed in sympathy. “What happened, Rose? Go ahead and tell me. I know you went to see Finn last night.” At the mention of the man’s name, Rose’s face crumbled; and she started crying freely. Rey put her arms around her and held her close, until she’d calmed down enough to speak.

“H-he d-doesn’t l-like me, Rey. He doesn’t like me, that’s all. I th-thought he did, but he’s j-just a big f-flirt,” and she broke down into sobs, wiping her tears on Rey’s naked shoulder. 

Rey did her best to comfort Rose. “He _does_ like you, I know he does. What makes you think he doesn’t?” 

“He didn’t… well, he didn’t want to have sex with me?” She focused her eyes on the bedspread because, Rey suspected, she knew exactly what Rey would say. This was the inverse of their usual conversation, but apparently the same conventions applied.

“Rose. Okay. He didn’t want to have sex with you. But what did you _do_? How long were you with him?” 

Rose looked at the clock on the bedside table. “Uh, I came back up around six, I guess, so like five hours? But we slept for a lot of that time. I woke up and had to pee, and he was asleep, and I didn’t see the point in staying and _oh god he’s going to think_ I _don’t like_ him _because I left_ …” and then there were more tears, for a few minutes. Rey sighed, and waited, holding her friend, and tried not to think about her coffee and breakfast getting cold down in the ski lodge.

Eventually Rose was calm enough to talk again. “Uh, so we talked a lot. I told him about mom and dad, and how Paige basically raised me, and how I met you and you’re like my sister, and he told me about his family, how he lived with Ben and Leia, and about his life now, and working with Ben, and all sorts of stuff.”

“That all sounds really good, Rose,” Rey said gently. “It sounds like something you’d tell someone you care about. A friend. Right?”

Rose nodded. “I guess so, yeah.”

Rey signed and felt the chill of the room on her wet skin. She set that aside. “Did you just talk?”

“Well… no.” Rose’s eyes were drying and her cheeks were flushing. “We, um, kissed. Some.”

Rey nodded. “You kissed. That’s good, you talked, about important personal stuff, and then you kissed.”

“Yes. And hugged, I mean, it was cold, so there was lots of, uh, hugging. And holding.”

“Right. That sounds nice, and like something you’d do with someone you enjoy being with.”

Rose sniffed. “Sure. We also, uh.” Silence.

“Yes?” Rey was honestly curious. They’d obviously done _something_.

“Nothing below the waist, uh, exactly. No hands or mouths, I mean.” Rey didn’t make a sound. Eventually the silence got to Rose and she started talking again. “Above the waist, was very good. And, have you ever looked at Finn’s thighs? Yes. Hm.”

Rey was starting to get exasperated. “Rose, I have no idea what you're trying to say, can you just tell me?”

“OKAY, OKAY!” Rose threw her hands up, equally exasperated. “He played with my boobs and I rubbed myself off on his thigh! And he talked to me the whole time and _oh my god Rey, he has the filthiest mouth._ ”

“Oh, my,” Rey was fond of Finn, but this was not something she really wanted to think about. “Wait, Rose, you honestly think this guy doesn’t _like_ you? That all sounds… really good to me, actually.” Rey could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, but she was not thinking about Finn. “And you stayed to sleep with him?”

“He, um, didn’t even suggest that I leave, even though by that time the furnace was back on. When I was done he kissed me some more and then we spooned and went to sleep.”

“So what, exactly, about what happened implies he doesn’t like you? I’ve known you for years, and I know how you think about this stuff, and I’m still honestly confused.”

Rose sighed and rolled her eyes. “He didn’t want me to touch him, Rey. I tried, he told me not to worry about it. I straight-up offered to go down on him, he said he wasn’t interested. He didn’t press himself against me at any point. He made _no attempt whatsoever_ to get off. It made me feel… unattractive.”

Rey sighed, and thought back to the conversation she’d had with Ben the night before. “Rose, I’m pretty sure you’re misinterpreting this. Ben told me,”

Rose interrupted with a shout. “BEN? Were you talking about us, to Ben?!” 

She sounded offended, but Rey just laughed. “Oh come on, do you really expect me to believe that you and Finn didn’t spend at least a few minutes talking about _us_?” Rose didn’t have a response to that, so Rey kept talking. “Anyway, Ben told me that Finn told him that he really likes you, and he wants to take it slow, and that he probably wouldn’t have sex with you immediately. I guess Finn just has ideas about _taking it slow_ that don’t line up with yours, exactly.”

“So what, to him _taking it slow_ is getting me off without worrying about himself?” 

Rey shrugged. “Looks like it could be. You need to talk to him to make sure.”

Rose started to smile. “Oh, I will. I'll talk to him at breakfast. And I mean, that’s not a _terrible_ deal, is it?”

“It sounds good to me,” replied Rey, and they both dissolved into giggles.

Eventually they both got up and dressed, and headed downstairs to start the day.

* * *

In the morning, Finn and Ben decided to do a run through of all the skits, not including the final act which had come together, finally, the evening before.

The first skit was _The Porg_ , which was the shortest skit but also the one that would set up the rest of the show. It was basically a warm-up by now. The conceit was that Little Boy was selling Scruffy the Porg before the start of the show, and Kylo Ren was just a little confused. 

> [In front of the stage, FINN is dressed as LITTLE BOY. He carries SCRUFFY THE PORG in a tray]  
>  LITTLE BOY: PORG! PORG! PORG!  
>  [BEN is dressed as KYLO, in mask and cape and carrying a sword. He stands up in the front row and approaches LITTLE BOY]  
>  KYLO: I’d like an ice cream, please.  
>  LITTLE BOY: I haven’t got ice cream, I’ve only got Porg. Scruffy! PORG! PORG!  
>  KYLO: What flavor is it?  
>  LITTLE BOY: Look, it’s a bird. It’s a stuffed bird from outer space! It doesn’t have any flavor! PORG!  
>  KYLO: Can I get it in a sugar cone?  
>  LITTLE BOY: That doesn’t make any sense, you don’t eat a porg in a sugar cone! PORG!  
>  KYLO: How much is it?  
>  LITTLE BOY [eyeing him]: For you? Twelve dollars.  
>  KYLO: I’ll have two, please.  
>  LITTLE BOY [handing over the single porg on his tray]: That will be twenty-four dollars.  
>  KYLO [hands over the money, takes the stuffed porg, throws it in the air, and whacks it with his foam sword to send it - hopefully - sailing into the audience]  
>  LITTLE BOY [horrified]: MY PORG!!!  
>  AUDIENCE [yells in horror]

Then, throughout the rest of the show, when Scruffy appeared people would cry out randomly, “ _MY PORG_!” It was a great way to get the show started and to keep the audience engaged. Everybody loved Scruffy the Porg.

Poe came in just as they were starting, to check the seal around the wine fridge; Holdo was concerned that it was loose, and the wines weren’t being kept cold enough. He chuckled at the skit, and whooped when Scruffy went airborne, so they figured that was a good sign.

Finn checked the setlist; they’d changed it again the previous afternoon, while continuing to work on the final act. “Okay, so after _The Porg_ , Rey and Rose will sing a couple of songs; one original one, and a winter song to be determined. Then we’ll do _The Record Store_.”

Ben nodded and took a sip from a glass of water. He’d rather be drinking whiskey; that was his original plan for the week, after all, whiskey and skiing, but there was no snow and he couldn’t work if he was drinking, this performance was just too important.

They would sometimes change up the identities of the customer and the clerk in _The Record Store_ , which would affect the list of albums or artists they use. But their favorite combination by far was the folk musician clerk and the hipster customer.

> [Finn, dressed as FOLK SINGER, is behind the counter; Scruffy is on the counter in front of him. Ben, dressed as HIPSTER and carrying a foam sword, walks in the door]  
>  HIPSTER: Hey, man.  
>  FOLK [nods]: Hey.  
>  HIPSTER: So, I was hanging out with my buddies down at the members only speakeasy, and we were talking about all the latest music reviews from Pitchfork. They were all buying them through iTunes, like assholes, but I wanted to have the real experience, you know?  
>  FOLK [nodding sympathetically]: Yeah, man.  
>  HIPSTER: So I’m here to buy the latest hip records.  
>  FOLK: Well, you’ve come to the right place! What record would you like?  
>  HIPSTER: How about Jeff Tweedy’s latest?  
>  FOLK: Sorry, man, just sold my last copy a few minutes ago.  
>  HIPSTER: Never mind. What about Earl Sweatshirt?  
>  FOLK: Er, Sweatshirt delivery on Monday only, that always sells out fast.  
>  HIPSTER: Okay. The 1975?  
>  FOLK: Ah! It's been on order for two weeks, man. Was expecting it this morning.  
>  HIPSTER: That’s unlucky. Rosalía?  
>  FOLK: Sorry, no.  
>  HIPSTER: Low.  
>  FOLK: No.  
>  HIPSTER: Robyn.  
>  FOLK: No.

They continued like this for a bit. Eventually HIPSTER, annoyed, started asking for more popular albums. The specific albums would change depending on the audience, and Ben’s mood. Given the potential audience for the Christmas Eve show, Ben was planning to pepper some operatic favorites in with his list.

> HIPSTER: Oooooookay then. Taylor Swift?  
>  FOLK: No.  
>  HIPSTER: Bon Jovi?  
>  FOLK: No.  
>  HIPSTER: Pavarotti?  
>  FOLK: No.  
>  HIPSTER [snaps]: _Organa Tours the World_ , the official recording of Leia Organa’s 1979 Operatic Tour of Europe?  
>  FOLK: Er… [looks around behind the counter] no.

At one point they seemed to have a breakthrough, but alas, it was a false alarm.

> HIPSTER: You do actually have some records to sell, don’t you?  
>  FOLK [offended]: Of course we do, _man_ , we’re a record store, we have...  
>  HIPSTER: No no no, don’t tell me, I want to guess.  
>  FOLK: Sure.  
>  HIPSTER: boygenius?  
>  FOLK: Yes?  
>  HIPSTER: Ah, so you do have boygenius!  
>  FOLK: Ahhhh, no, sorry, I thought you were referring to me. No.

Eventually - after far too long, usually - the skit reached its climax. HIPSTER was reaching the end of his tether, while FOLK was cool and unbothered, which just made it worse.

> HIPSTER [thinking he has him]: Ahhhh, how about Queen?  
>  FOLK: Nobody wants to buy Queen.  
>  HIPSTER: Nobody wa… they just had a movie made about them! Album’s running up the charts! Queen is one of the most popular bands ever!  
>  FOLK: Not around here.  
>  HIPSTER [irate]: … what is the most popular musical artist, around here?  
>  FOLK: Josh Groban.  
>  HIPSTER: IS he.  
>  FOLK: Oh yes. Our number one seller.  
>  HIPSTER: I see. Groban, eh?  
>  FOLK: Yeah, man.  
>  HIPSTER: _Yeah, man_ , sure. ‘Do you have a copy,’ he asked, expecting the answer _no_.  
>  FOLK: Let me have a look, man. [Looks around behind the counter] Uhhhhhh, no.  
>  HIPSTER: Not much of a record store, is it?  
>  FOLK [offended]: We’re the best in town, man!  
>  HIPSTER: Explain to me _exactly_ how that works.  
>  FOLK: I mean, the store is so clean!  
>  HIPSTER: It certainly is uncontaminated by records.  
>  FOLK [brightly]: You haven’t asked me about The Beatles!  
>  HIPSTER: Would it be worth it?  
>  FOLK: Er… probably not.  
>  HIPSTER: Tell me… have you got any records here at all?  
>  FOLK: Yes! Yes we do.  
>  HIPSTER [disbelieving]: Oh really?  
>  FOLK: Yeah man. [Lifts an item onto the counter] We have this used eight-track tape of the Celestial Strife Christmas Special soundtrack from 1978.  
>  HIPSTER: [Yells, brandishes sword, and whacks Scruffy off the countertop]  
>  FOLK [joined by the audience]: MY PORG!  
>  [THE FOLK SINGER lifts up his own foam sword, jumps over the counter, and whacks THE HIPSTER. The two whack at each other as they move off stage]

Holdo had walked in, unseen, while they were running through the skit, and by the end she was guffawing, and she stood and clapped when they were finished.

“Oh my goodness, I had no idea you boys could be so funny. That was really great.” She was wiping tears out of her eyes and still gushing when Leia came in from the inn.

“Have any of you seen my phone?” she asked as she lifted up the cushions on the bench by the fire and peeked under them. “I haven’t seen it since yesterday afternoon.”

“Oh General, are you afraid you’ll lose points on Candy Crush or something?” Holdo teased, even as she started poking around herself.

“Please. I’ve been playing _Alto’s Odyssey,_ and it’s just a nice escape from reality—and I could really use it right now.”

Ben and Finn traded smiles; they knew that their mom's phone was tucked away safe in some inner pocket of Holdo’s vest. They helped look around to maintain the facade, and once Leia left and Holdo went to the kitchen to work on lunch, they got back to work.

Finn read down the list of the remaining skits. “Okay, we have _The Most Beautiful Porg in the Room_ , _The Coffeeshop_ , _Hipster of the Year_ , _Heart to Heart_ , _Bowie and Kylo in Space_ , _Department of Slander_ , _Medieval Threesome_ , and then the final act. Are you sure we don’t have time to do _Chicken Wings_? I really love _Chicken Wings_.”

“I know you do, Finn, but it's long and a bit obscure, even for us. Tell you what, we can try it in the run through tonight and if everyone loves it, and there's time, we’ll add it to the program. Okay?”

Finn agreed, and they ran through _The Most Beautiful Porg in the Room_. By the time they were done it was quarter to noon, so they stopped to rest - and have a glass of whiskey - before lunch.

They sat down on the benches by the fire, and Ben’s mind wandered to the previous evening, singing with and kissing Rey right here, under the quilt folded up _right over there_. He was so absorbed in the memory he didn’t hear Finn until his friend smacked him on the shoulder.

“Hey man, you there?”

Ben couldn’t fight the smile that was spreading across his face. “Yeah, just thinking about last night.” They’d already talked, after breakfast, about their respective evenings. Rose and Finn had had a miscommunication, apparently, but Ben’s conversation with Rey had made its way to Rose, and the two had been able to work it out over eggs and bacon before it damaged their budding relationship. Ben was glad to have been able to help with that. It was such a pleasure to see his best friend happy; it gave him a warm feeling in the middle of his chest.

Finn was talking, and Ben was doing his best to concentrate over the noise of the ice in their glasses, his own memories, and the dancing light of the gas fire. “Rose is so great, Ben. She might be perfect. We sang a bit together, yesterday, after dinner, did I tell you?”

He had. Ben nodded in affirmation.

Finn took a sip of his drink and sighed. “Since you and Rey are doing a duet maybe Rose and I should, too. Get in on the action, you know?” Finn continued, more quietly. “I’m gonna start getting ahead of myself, Ben. I’m already worried about later.”

Ben frowned. That hadn’t even occurred to him, but now that Finn mentioned it… “We all live in New York. They’re in Brooklyn, we’re in Queens. We can keep dating when we get home. If,” he continued hastily, “we’re dating when we leave. Or whatever.”

“No, man, I’m talking about the spring. They’re going on tour, did you know that?” Ben… hadn’t known that. Finn must have seen it in his face. “Yeah. They’ll be gone from March through August, all spring and summer. Six months.” He slumped back, took a mouthful of liquor, and stared into the fire.

“Maybe I could go with her. You know, by March…” Finn counted on his fingers; Ben was pretty sure it was for effect. “Three months? Is that long enough to make that kind of commitment?”

The warm feeling in Ben’s chest was beginning to cool off. There was still some heat, from thinking about his night with Rey, and from the whiskey, but Finn’s comments chilled him. They’d talked about touring in the summer themselves—not seriously, but it had been raised as a possibility. Had Finn forgotten? Or had he decided it wasn’t something he wanted to do after all?

Ben glanced over at his friend and considered asking him. He _should_ ask him. But Finn looked so happy, smiling and gazing into the fire, contemplating a future that was very suddenly more rich than it was even a few days before. Ben didn’t want to ruin the moment, so he didn’t ask. Instead he swallowed the rest of his drink and stood up to wash the glass and return it to the shelf before lunch.

* * *

That evening, instead of just working, they decided to add a bit of fun to the work and present an informal run-through of the show to Leia, Holdo, Hux, and Poe. It would be the first time the two pairs would see each other’s pieces; each pair had also planned a special treat for the other. Not to be shown in the final production, just for tonight. Rey was immensely excited about the act that she and Rose had put together in the couple of hours they’d had late that afternoon. She hoped the men would appreciate it.

Rey was a bit worried that the tone of the show wouldn’t work. Sunflower was such a _serious_ group, with deep lyrics (well, she hoped they were deep) and challenging harmonies, and the Nerf Herders were … well, they were pretty silly. Would moving back and forth between the two work for the audience, or would it just be confusing?

They’d be performing on the stage that dominated the far end of the ski lodge, and although for the show the tables would be cleared out and the space filled with rows of folded chairs (rental courtesy of Armitage Hux’s trust fund), for now their small audience was gathered around the round table closest to the stage. Leia and Holdo sat a bit separated from Hux and Poe, who were closer together. They all had glasses in front of them; whiskey or, in Leia’s case, white wine. Leia also had a notebook and pen on the table in front of her, which made Rey a bit nervous. Apparently they would be receiving feedback. Ben sat with them, dressed as Kylo, waiting for Finn to come out of the door from the inn. They were not going to have any kind of introduction, instead jumping right in to _The Porg_ before setting off on the rest of the show.

Rey and Rose were watching from the doorway to the inn at the back of the room. It was through this door that Finn (dressed as Little Boy) made his grand entrance, taking his time strolling down the length of the room, shouting “ _PORG! SCRUFFY!_ ” every few seconds. Once he approached the stage, Ben was out of his seat and the skit was on. It finished with a shout and poor Scruffy being launched into the middle of the room, accompanied by screams and laughs from all members of the tiny audience.

Rose and Rey were up next. Like Finn, they entered through the door at the back of the room and made their way to the stage singing _Jingle Bells_ and doing a little dance as they went. They were accompanied only by strings of bells shaken by themselves, Ben, and Finn, which they'd found in a box of Christmas ornaments in the basement. They were wearing the ugliest sweaters they could find at the local thrift shop, and bedecked, not with bay and rosemary, but with tinsel and flashing LED lights. The tinsel and lights they would remove for most of the show, but the sweaters would stay until the finale.

At the start of the chorus the ladies shouted for everyone to join in, and by the end of the song they were up on stage, Finn and Ben with them, and there was as much applause as there could be given the small size of the audience.

The run-through moved along. Rey and Rose sang _No One’s From Nowhere_ (the men sitting on the ground nearby, watching them in rapt attention), the men performed _The Record Store_ , the ladies sang _White Christmas_ , and they continued on through the entire setlist. (Well, not the entire setlist; there were a couple of treats for Leia sprinkled here and there that they left out.) The final act was met with especially stupendous applause. Rey was ecstatic, and it looked like everyone else was pleased about it too. It probably didn't hurt that their little audience had been nursing drinks for the two hours they'd been performing.

“Oh my goodness, that was really wonderful,” gushed Holdo, slumping in her seat and wiping her eyes. “Is that really all? You can't tell me that's all.”

Leia set down her glass and nodded in agreement. “Yes, give us more! Encore! Encore!”

The others at the table picked up the cry, and they were all shouting _Encore! Encore! e_ ven as Ben and Finn made their way down from the stage.

“Okay, okay,” Rey groaned in mock annoyance. “We do have a couple more things for you.” Rey and Rose grabbed the Kylo and Trooper costumes from where the men had discarded them on the side of the stage. Standing next to Rose, Rey addressed her next words to the two men sitting at the table. “Nerf Herders, it has been such a pleasure to get to know you over the past few days.”

Rose continued. “So to thank you for agreeing to do the show with us, and in honor of our new friendships,” Finn raised his glass to her, and she bit her lip and blushed, “uh, we've put together this little thing just for you.”

“We hope you enjoy it,” Ray added, grinning down at Ben. They donned their masks and capes and took their places.

Rose, wearing the garb of the Trooper, sat at the very front of the stage, her legs dangling down. She cradled Scruffy in her arms, stroking his head and crooning (as well as she could, considering she was wearing a mask over her face). 

> Well, looking 'round the room, I can tell that you  
>  Are the most beautiful porg in the room

Rey, who had been doing a kind of swing just behind her and off to the side, leaned forward and sang:

> (In the whole wide room)

Her voice, transformed through the modulator in the Kylo mask, sounded strange and deep to her; she hoped it added to the absurdity of the scene. Rose continued:

> And when you're on the street, depending on the street  
>  I'll bet you are definitely in the top three  
>  Good looking porgs on the street

Again, Rey paused her swinging and stepped forward:

> (Depending on the street)

The mask limited her vision, but she still had a pretty good view of the table. Everyone was smiling; even Hux’s expression was more of a smirk than a sneer, although he was looking at the ceiling instead of the stage. Poe’s arm was slung casually across the back of his chair and the two of them were leaning towards each other. Ben and Finn were both, pretty obviously, trying not to crack up. Finn was bent over in his seat, one arm around his belly.

> And when I saw you at my friend’s place  
>  I thought, What is that porg doing at my friend’s place?  
>  How did Poe get a scruffy like that to a party like this?  
>  (Good one, Poe, ooh, you're a legend Poe)

At this Poe snorted, audibly, and Hux even chucked. 

The song was based - very loosely- on the skit _The Most Beautiful Porg in the Room_ , which basically consisted of Trooper and Kylo standing on the edge of the stage while Scruffy, lonely and under a spotlight, sits in the center of the stage. Trooper waxes poetic about Scruffy’s beauty and other attributes, using more and more flowery and euphemistic language, to the growing annoyance and final outrage of Kylo. It ends, not surprisingly, with Kylo whacking Porg across the room. But Rose had taken that conceit and modified it to be a song directed to Scruffy by Trooper, with Kylo serving more as a wingman/background singer than anything else. It was Rose’s effort; all Rey had done was sit back and watch her work, offering her occasional suggestions. Her friend had a natural humorous streak that she didn’t get a chance to use in the normal course of business, and it had been a real pleasure to watch her draw on both her wit and her musical skills to build something new.

They finished the song to great applause, and hugs from Finn and Ben once they’d removed their masks. Ben, who’d returned to his neutral unsmiling self in the company of the others today, gave Rey a big smile as he squeezed her around her middle. “That was, no hyperbole, the funniest thing I have ever seen. The perfect parody. Thank you.” 

Rey could feel her cheeks heat at the praise, but gestured to Rose. “That was all her, I had very little to do with that. They lyrics and the music? Rose originals.”

Finn gazed down at Rose. “Is that true?”

The other woman glowed up at him. “It is! And it was _so much fun_ , you have no idea.”

“I might have some idea,” he replied, a bit breathily to Rey’s ears. He was looking at Rose as though she, personally, had hung the stars. It was sweet and made Rey's heart soar. She'd been so wrong about him. 

She looked up at Ben, expecting to share a secret glance of happiness for their friends, but was a bit shocked to find him staring at them wearing a sour expression, his eyebrows pulled together and the corners of his mouth quirked down. After a moment he brought his eyes to meet Rey’s, and gave her a quick smile as his face cleared. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shook his head slightly. She wasn't sure what had happened; she would have to remember to ask him about that later.

Then it was the men’s turn. They took the stage and stood side-by-side towards the front of the stage; no costumes, no props. Interesting.

Finn spoke first. “So, this week has been pretty incredible for us, for so many reasons. There's no snow, but there's lots that’s familiar, and so much that's new and exciting.”

Rose, seated at the table next to Rey, beamed up at him.

“Also lots of whiskey,” Ben interrupted, to the general amusement of the collected group.

“That too,” Finn continued. “So we offer this as a gift.”

“A gift to all of you,” Ben clarified, “but especially to Sunflower, Rose and Rey.” Rey smiled up at him, and he didn’t smile, exactly, but he looked like he was thinking about it.

They took a moment to match pitch, and then they started to sing.

They were singing _What You Love_ , and they were singing it straight. Ben started off:

> You set yourself up to lose  
>  If your hate is all you use  
>  Spend your days in endless, useless fight

And Finn picked up the melody:

> Use your heart, and learn to mend  
>  To protect, and to defend  
>  That's the only way to make it right.

As they moved into two-part harmony, Rey knocked her knee against Rose's and they traded a smile. She had heard Ben sing before, of course, but she hadn't heard Finn. He had a lovely voice, deeper and richer than Ben’s, but tuneful, and it blended with her boyfriend's - _boyfriend’s?_ \- beautifully. 

While Rey and Rose had decided on a slow, dreamy version for the concert, the men's was more upbeat and soulful. In place of the lyrics on the third verse, Ben sang harmony using oooooo's and mmmmmmm's; and they clapped to keep rhythm. It was the same song, yet sounded totally different, and was equally brilliant. When they were finished, everyone gave them a standing ovation.

And then the run-through was done. Ben and Finn joined the others around the table, stopping by the bar first to help themselves to drinks. They had just a few minutes to relax and chat before Leia cleared her throat and tapped her notebook. Apparently there was still work to do.

* * *

Later, Rey and Rose retired to their room. It wasn’t too much later; after listening to Leia’s list of suggestions they’d all decided it was better to tackle them in the morning, when everyone would be fresh. Tired but too stimulated to sleep, they laid down together on Rose’s bed and wrote a new song. It was short, and the harmony was simple, but it was no less beautiful for that. 

They were both crying by the time they finished. They couldn’t wait to share it with Ben and Finn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although we already had _Sisters_ in the previous chapter, this chapter actually includes what I consider to be the _Sisters_ scene of the story - that is, Rey and Rose doing a parody of the guys' skit. You don't have to think of it like that, but I hope it at least made you smile.
> 
> Aside from the song lyrics by LoveThemFiercely, nothing here is original. The skits are all based on skits that were written by people much more creative than I am.
> 
>  _The Porg_ is based on Monty Python's [_Albatross_](http://www.montypython.net/scripts/albatross.php)  
>  _The Record Store_ is based on Monty Python's [_The Cheese Shop_](http://www.montypython.net/scripts/cheese.php)  
>  _The Most Beautiful Porg In the Room_ , which in this story is a skit that has a song parody made about it, is based on the Flight of the Conchords song [_The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room_](https://youtu.be/5YIxpNPhAQE)
> 
> The skits in the setlist are all references, too:
> 
> The Coffeeshop: Everybody's favorite modern AU  
> Hipster of the Year: Monty Python's [Upper Class Twit of the Year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Class_Twit_of_the_Year)  
> Heart to Heart: Flight of the Conchords [Father and Son](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8iK1rhfYpI)  
> Bowie and Kylo in Space: Flight of the Conchords [Bowie's in Space](https://youtu.be/g8f_XCH3zmM)  
> Department of Slander: A love child of Monty Python's [Ministry of Silly Walks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_of_Silly_Walks) and [Argument Clinic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_Clinic)  
> Medieval Threesome: Our own finnreylo medieval scriptorium AU [Statera Trium](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15366297/chapters/35656308), with a twist of Flight of the Conchords [The Summer of 1353](https://youtu.be/zEqdINMLAec)  
> Chicken Wings: Nothing really, I'm just tickled by the idea that there could be an absurdist sketch with this title. I have no idea what it could be. Let me know if you want to write it.
> 
> Thanks for coming back to find out what happened on Saturday! Come back tomorrow for Sunday! Will things keep going as well as they have been? _Oh come on, what do you think?_
> 
> P.S. Applesith made this great advertising poster for the show! [It's here on Tumblr](http://red-applesith.tumblr.com/post/181411015077/leofgyth-leofgyth-no-snow-is-complete-just)  
> 


	6. Two days to Christmas (part one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Everything was working out so well. What could possibly go wrong?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another monster chapter that got divided in two.

Two days to go. The concert would be tomorrow night.

The inn had filled immediately, to no one’s surprise. Rey’s invitation to Anderson alumni had been received and answered, and the hotels and inns nearby were filling quickly, thanks to Hux’s trust fund. They were hoping to handle any potential paparazzi; unarmed security guards had arrived that morning to make sure no one who wasn’t registered at the inn made it up the driveway. Hux had taken care of the travel arrangements; shuttle busses would begin arriving an hour before the show was scheduled to start, and Poe and Holdo were coming up with a plan to keep Leia occupied up until the last minute. The surreptitious blackout they had constructed around the retired professor had been successful so far; she was missing her phone, desperately, but it was nowhere to be found, and Poe and Holdo kept finding excuses to keep from driving her into town to get a replacement (for once in their lives, they considered her inability to drive an asset rather than a hindrance). Hux was able to keep her occupied much of the time. They were becoming quite good friends; his initial hero worship of her, and her being flattered at his attention, had softened to sincere affection on both sides. 

Hux and Poe had been keeping each other occupied as well; when Leia was off coaching Sunflower, laughing at her sons, or taking lessons on the finer aspects of bread baking from Holdo. It is unfortunate that we don’t get more of their story here, but let it be said that they were also enjoying each other’s company, very much indeed. 

Everything was working out so well. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Hux caught Rey by the elbow as she was heading upstairs to freshen up after breakfast. “I got an email from Hoda Kotb, she’d like you to call in this morning to talk about the show.”

Rey froze. “Wait, Hoda Kotb. NBC _Today Show_ Hoda Kotb? Wants to talk about the show?”

“Apparently it’s becoming big news beyond the New York arts scene, and I’d like to feed the beast. It’s good for Sunflower. So go on upstairs but come down quickly, I told her we would call as soon after 9am as we could.”

Rey was back down and on the phone in the office by 9:02am (they made sure Leia was occupied; she was in the ski lodge with Holdo helping to clear up after breakfast). Rey said what she wanted to say, and thought the call went quite well - effectively _feeding the beast_ as Hux would say. She’d also put in a last-minute call for alumni; she wanted to make sure everyone who wanted to come knew they would be welcome.

As they walked towards the door to the ski lodge, Hux said to her, “That call reminds me of what Phasma said to me when I told her about this idea. Have I told you this before?” Rey shook her head and they paused by the door. Phasma was another agent at the same agency as Hux, and was known in the business to be even more cutthroat than him. “Oh, Rey, it was terrible. I’ll use some artistic license, but it went something like this.”

He cleared his throat, threw one of his hips back, raised his chin and his eyebrows, and held out his right hand, palm up, fingers curled. The impression was so spot-on Rey couldn’t help the snort that pushed up through her throat. 

The voice he affected was slightly higher and less smooth than his normal one. “Oh Hux, you don’t seem to see the _opportunity_ here. You really need to go all out, put the whole thing on a livestream, then everyone in the world can see it!” 

Rey laughed in astonishment. “Are you serious?”

“Totally serious! Set up a camera, stream it all. Oh, and you know what else? Play it up big, a real Christmas Eve show all about how we’re playing Santa Claus to the old lady.”

“Oh my _god_ , really?” Rey was horrified. How could even Phasma come up with such a terrible idea?

Hux chuckled, again sounding so much like Phasma it was eerie. “Yes. It would be worth _millions_ in free advertising for Sunflower. We’re not commercializing on her hard luck, we’re doing her a big favor. We'll put the old lady on herself, you know, the forgotten-man angle. Tear their hearts out.”

Rey laughed so hard she doubled over. By the time she straightened up Rose was there, appraising them both curiously. Rey finished wiping her eyes. “We are so lucky we have Hux for an agent instead of Phasma. Also, Hux, that impression is spot on. Have you been practicing?”

His eyes sparkled as he pushed open the door and waved her through. “I’ve just been waiting for the right opportunity to make it public,” and they all laughed as they walked into the ski lodge, ready to begin rehearsals.

* * *

Poe was having one hell of a good week.

He’d been looking forward to the guys being home. Don’t get him wrong, he loved working with Holdo, reporting to the General, running errands and fixing things up and generally being the go-to guy (not that Holdo really _needed_ him, she was plenty competent; but he knew she liked having him around, and he liked being around). The inn had not been doing well, and Ben and Finn would brighten things up in a dark time. One last hurrah, or something like that.

Sunflower, they’d been a sweet surprise. Good to look at, fun to talk to. Each one clearly smitten with a brother (who in turn was clearly smitten with her). Poe could admit that was a bit disappointing. There were plenty of pretty people around in town, but very few who Poe would say were _interesting_. Those young ladies were interesting, each in their own way. He was very glad they were around, too.

Armitage Hux, though, had been a revelation. He’d come into Poe’s life two days before, a snarling tempest of a man at their very first interaction; but for some reason, Poe just couldn’t bring himself to be mad. Hux made him laugh, which made Hux snarl even louder; but Poe was pretty sure most of it was an act. Watching him interact with the General, how his petals unfurled at her soft response to his open admiration, just made him more confident about his first impression.

Hux was a man who had never been loved, and Poe was determined to be the first one to do it. 

He’d had some success, was becoming quite attached to the man; so when he heard Hux’s voice filtered through the door between the inn and the ski lodge as he was moving furniture around the back of the room, he could be forgiven for stopping to listen. Ben and Finn were on stage, waiting for Rose and Rey to come back down so they could start the day’s rehearsals, so there was no one there to observe him in his eavesdropping.

“... go all out, put the whole thing on a livestream, then everyone in the world can see it!” Hux’s voice sounded strange, loose, higher than normal. 

A laugh. It was Rey. “Are you serious?”

“Totally serious! Set up a camera, stream it all. Oh, and you know what else? Play it up big, a real Christmas Eve show all about how we’re playing Santa Claus to the old lady.”

Rey interrupted with a gasp. “Oh my _god_ , really?”

Hux chuckled. “Yes. It would be worth millions in free advertising for Sunflower. We’re not commercializing on her hard luck, we’re doing her a big favor. We'll put the old lady on herself; you know, the forgotten-man angle. Tear their hearts out.”

Rey was practically howling. Poe’s vision darkened, just around the edges; and he had to bend over to fight the sudden sense of lightheadedness that threatened to overwhelm him. He was more angry than he’d been in a long time, maybe ever. _This_ is what they were planning? And they had the nerve to _laugh_ about it. Had it been planned since the beginning? Did this mean Hux was playing him, too? 

The sense of betrayal crushed him. He was _this close_ to rushing through the door and confronting them then and there; but he was too angry. He'd say something to Hux later, when he'd had a chance to cool down and would be less likely to say something he’d really regret.

He moved away from the door quickly, returning to his work; and a minute or so later Rey walked in, followed closely by Hux and Rose. They were all laughing. The ladies waved at him and it was easy to ignore them, but the man made a detour to his side, smiling broadly, and moved in to kiss his cheek. Three minutes ago, Poe would have wondered at such an open display of affection, considered it a sign of growth, and welcomed it unconditionally. But now he flinched and pulled away. He expected he would never forget the expression of confusion and pain that flitted across Hux's face in that moment.

“Why…” he breathed.

“You know why,” Poe interrupted harshly. “We’ll talk later. I have work to do.” He couldn't even look the other man in the face; and he turned his back on him and made a show of tipping another table over onto a dolly and wheeling it to the storage closet. After a long pause he could hear Hux’s footsteps making their way towards the front of the room, and did his best to ignore the feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was making a terrible mistake.

* * *

The morning rehearsal went smoothly. Leia had given them the notebook she’d had at the run-through the night before. Most of her suggestions were minor tweaks, plus a few ideas for rearranging the set list. That was a bit sensitive because, of course, there were items on there that she wasn’t privy to. But eventually they settled on an order that was agreeable to everyone.

They concluded the rehearsal about ten minutes before noon, to give them all time to take a break before lunch. Rey took a long swallow from her bottle of water, and smiled against the mouth of it when Ben placed a sweet kiss against her temple.

“Thank you again for all that you’re doing for my mom,” he whispered into her hair. 

She tipped her face up and pressed her lips against his with a sigh. “It is absolutely my pleasure,” she said, touching the tip of her nose to his. “Absolutely.”

He grinned back and galloped down the stage stairs, threading through the rows of chairs that Holdo and Poe were setting up with some hired help, towards the door to the inn. Rey took another drink and watched as Poe grabbed Ben’s arm on his way past, and then pulled him into a row and started whispering to him. The man looked agitated, and as he spoke, Ben’s expression mirrored his. Ben glanced up at her and she mouthed, _what?_ , but he ignored her and lowered his eyes to the floor. Concerned, Rey started down the stairs herself, but when they saw her walking towards them they rushed out of the room, leaving her standing there, alone. 

Maybe there was something wrong with the chairs, or a room got double-booked, or … oh god, maybe there were paparazzi. She and Rose had avoided going outside since the show was announced, just on the off chance that some hungry photographer might make it out there. They could be trouble. Well, whatever it was, hopefully they would be able to work it out before anything too damaging happened.

* * *

Ben's mind was racing. “Poe, are you absolutely sure about this?”

They had gone up to the room Ben shared with Finn, which would guarantee them some privacy. Poe was sitting on the edge of one of the beds, close to tears, and Ben paced the room in agitated misery.

“I am absolutely sure. I know what I heard. Just can't believe it.” 

Ben shook his head; he was working himself up to anger. “It's so despicable. I just… I can't believe we misjudged them like this.”

“We didn't misjudge them, man, they purposefully misled us. We're chumps. I just,” Poe sobbed, and a single tear escaped his eye and made its way down his cheek. “I thought he really liked me.”

Ben sat down next to Poe and wrapped an arm around him, giving him a shoulder to cry on. And that's how they were a few minutes later, when Finn walked in the door.

“Hey guys, we wondered where you were, you're missing lunch.” He finally took in Poe weeping on Ben; and Ben’s obvious outrage, which had been building as he had sat there holding Poe. “Uh, what's wrong, guys? Everything okay?”

Poe just sobbed. Ben growled, “Everything is _not_ okay. Sunflower and their asshole agent have been playing us for ad revenue. Rey has…” He choked on the rest of his sentence. What had she? “Did you know they're planning to put the show on a livestream? Hux says it'll be worth millions. It’ll also make mom look like a victim, some kind of pitiful charity case.”

Finn had the audacity to laugh. “Man, this must be some kind of miscommunication, because there is no way that's true. Rose wouldn't be involved in something like that.”

The rush of fury was immediate and overwhelming. Ben jumped up and approached Finn slowly, sneering. “Oh, ROSE, wouldn't, would she. Your _girlfriend_ , who you're already talking about going on tour with, instead of your oldest friend? You don't even _know_ her.”

Finn recoiled as if he'd been slapped. Then he leaned forward, baring his teeth in anger. “Sorry, I thought I was having a conversation about the possibility of Sunflower taking advantage of us, not staging an intervention for you about your _pathological jealousy_. And you honestly think _Rey_ would be involved in something like this? You think so? Anyway,” he said as he brushed past Ben, “Poe. Did Hux tell you this?” He crouched in front of the other man.

Poe shook his head. “I overheard him talking to Rey about it. I… I was too angry to say anything at the time.”

Finn looked back and forth between them. “Wait, have either of you actually said anything to Rey, or Hux, or Rose, about this overheard conversation?”

Poe wiped his face and shook his head, eyes on the ground. Ben looked out the window and ground his teeth. His hands were in fists so tight the nails were digging into his palms, and he was able to control himself just enough that he didn’t wheel around and punch the wall. Months of anger management had been successful in this regard, anyway. It was surprisingly hurtful that Finn would accept Rose’s word over Poe’s.

Finn shook his head and stood. “I can't _believe_ you guys. You haven't even talked to them? These people you claim to care about?” He walked to the door. 

“They'll just lie to us, Finn,” said Poe. 

Finn opened the door a crack. “Maybe so, but at least I'm trying.” He raised one shaking finger to Ben. “When I come back up here, Ben, we’re going to talk about _us_. I'll see you in a few.” And he walked out the door, closing it gently behind him.

Ben didn't wait; as soon as Finn left he hauled his duffle bag out of the closet, threw it on one of the beds, and started emptying drawers into it.

“Uh, what are you doing, Ben? Don't you want to wait for Finn?”

“I don't want to talk to Finn, or Rey, or anybody.” Ben punctuated his words by throwing handfuls of clothing into the bag. “I’ll just… I’ll just explode at her, and I don’t want to do that.” His anger was beginning to morph into something else, and he could feel hot tears at the corners of his eyes. The desire to _be alone_ was overwhelming. “I just want to go back to New York.” He paused on his way into the bathroom and glanced at his one remaining friend. “Drive me to the airport?”

Poe sighed and stood up on shaking legs. “Yeah, sure. Give me something to do aside from moaning about my own broken heart.”

Six minutes later Finn came back up to explain the misunderstanding, but it was too late. Ben and Poe were already gone.

* * *

Ben’s hands were shaking as he pulled up the Uber app on his cell phone and requested a ride, exiting the secure area in Terminal 5 at JFK. He’d spent the drive from the inn to Burlington lamenting the situation with Poe, and that had been exhausting. Poe was, if it was possible, more hurt than Ben himself. He’d apparently considered Hux some kind of _project_ , which - Ben thought to himself but would not say to his friend - was probably not very healthy. But a project that he’d come to care about deeply, very quickly. The deception was what hurt Poe the most, the thought that Hux hadn’t been truthful with him from the beginning. What possible reason would he have to mislead in matters of the heart? It just didn’t make sense, and it _hurt_. Ben knew exactly how he felt.

Ben had slept during the flight. He was so exhausted after everything at the inn, and the ride, and the long wait at the airport. He’d fallen asleep as soon as the wheels lifted from the tarmac. A flight to JFK had been taking off when he arrived, so he’d had to wait hours for the next one, and he didn’t land in the city until almost 7 pm. He’d turned off notifications on his phone before they’d left the inn, so although he figured his email inbox was full of messages by now from Finn, and maybe from the others, he wasn’t going to see them. Finn was a traitor anyway. Ben didn’t want to think about him. He wanted to go home, take a shower, order a pizza, and sleep until he couldn’t sleep any more. Then he could consider what he would do with the rest of his life.

Before too long the black Toyota Prius pulled up and Ben folded himself and his duffle bag into the back seat as the car drove away from the curb. A familiar song floated through the speakers, and Ben groaned. The bearded driver, like most Uber drivers everywhere, was perceptive.

“Not a fan of Sunflower, eh? Not a problem, I’ll change the music. You like opera?”

Ben groaned again and the driver chuckled and switched the radio to inoffensive 90s rock. “Ah, come on, it’s not so bad. You’ve heard about the big show that’s happening in Vermont, right? Sunflower doing some kind of fundraiser for Leia Organa’s hotel, and a big reunion for her students? And those comics, too? I don’t know them, but whatever. Even if they suck, I’d put up with them for the rest of it.”

“Yeah, I heard about it.” Ben closed his eyes and laid his head against the window. The glass was cool against his temple; it felt good.

The driver sighed. “I would do _anything_ to attend that show, I really would. Sunflower, acapella? A chance to hear Leia Organa sing again? Such an intimate audience?” Another sigh. “What an historical event, really.”

Ben laughed mirthlessly. “Why don’t you just watch the livestream?”

“ _WHAT_?” The driver howled and angled the rearview mirror so it was aiming right at Ben’s face. “Are you kidding me? That inn’s secured tighter than a… well, tighter than anything I can think of, anyway.”

Ben sat up straighter, and tried to ignore the discomfort building in the pit of his stomach. “I, uh, thought there was going to be a livestream.”

“Man, if that’s what you’re counting on you are sorely mistaken. Rey the Sunflower _herself_ called in to the _Today Show_ this morning and spoke with Hoda Kotb about the concert. They’re not even letting cell phones into the room. It’s totally dark. A one-time-only deal.”

“... are you sure?”

“Sure as I’ve ever been, man. You got your phone?” Ben nodded; the driver was still watching him through the rear-view mirror. “Right, so just search for _sunflower today show_ and you should find it. They put up the clip as soon as they could. It’s all anyone is talking about today.”

Ben took the man’s advice and pulled up his browser. In a moment he’d found the clip of the show that had aired earlier in the day. And there it was: a call-in from Sunflower Rey. He plugged in his earbuds and listened to what she had to say:

> **Kotb:** We’re so pleased to welcome a call this morning from Rey. You all know that Rey is the sun half of Sunflower, the flower half is Rose, they’re the little singing group that’s made it so big. Rey, welcome! I understand you have a big show coming up soon?
> 
> **Rey:** First, Hoda, thank you so much for taking my call. And yes, Rose and I are doing a very special show tomorrow night, along with our new friends the Scruffy Looking Nerf Herders. It’s not big, but it’s important. We’ll have a small audience up at the beautiful Columbia Inn in Pine Tree, Vermont.
> 
> **Kotb:** So not big, but it is unusual, what can you tell us about it?
> 
> **Rey:** Well, Hoda, I can tell you that the audience is limited to the people staying in the Columbia Inn, and to a number of graduates of the Anderson School of Music in Philadelphia who are going to be there to celebrate the career of Leia Organa. Your audience probably knows that Leia was a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera for several years before she retired and became a professor and head of department at Anderson, which is where Rose and I met. And if there are any Anderson alumni out there who would like to come but haven’t yet made plans, please know there are still rooms available in town! Just call up to the Columbia Inn and ask for Holdo, she’ll help you out.
> 
> **Kotb:** Missus Organa is the owner of the Columbia Inn, is that right?
> 
> **Rey:** Yes, that’s right! And the Nerf Herders are her sons. Everything came together perfectly for a very special Christmas Eve celebration.
> 
> **Kotb:** So what about those of us who can’t make it, will there be a recording available?
> 
> **Rey:** Oh Hoda, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. This is going to be a very private event; it’s really about the General - that's what we call Leia, up at the inn - about celebrating her. It’s a personal event, not commercial. I’m just calling in because we know there is a lot of interest, particularly amongst Leia’s opera fans, and we want them to know what’s happening. But we won’t even be allowing cell phones in the room where we’re holding the concert. Furthermore, I want to make it clear to everyone watching that nobody connected with the show is getting anything out of it, nothing at all, except of course for a chance to give the best Christmas gift she’ll ever get to the best woman we’ll ever know.
> 
> **Kotb:** That is so refreshing. Thank you so much for calling in, Rey, and we hope the show goes well. Happy holidays to everyone up there in Vermont!
> 
> **Rey:** Thank you so much. Happy holidays to you and everyone in the audience!

Ben listened to it twice. The first time he focused on absorbing the information; the second time he concentrated on Rey’s voice, her beautiful, lilting voice. She sounded so happy. She'd made the call in the morning, it must have been before she came in for rehearsals. Before Poe overheard whatever it was he’d heard. Before Ben ran away rather than talking to her. Finn had been right, again. Ben felt like shit.

He finally opened his email with trepidation. There were unread messages from Finn and Poe and even Holdo, with timestamps from throughout the afternoon. The most recent email in the queue was from Poe, sent at 5pm, and had the subject heading “I AM A FUCKING DUMBASS PLEASE READ,” and that at least made Ben laugh. But he sobered up quickly. If Poe was a dumbass, he was also a dumbass, and he was a dumbass who had to make it back to Vermont as soon as possible.

There was no email from Rey; she would probably never speak to him again, and he deserved it. 

Ben checked out the window. They were on the Belt Parkway, heading west, and traffic was heavy, the brakelights of the long lines of cars ahead of them shining brightly in the dark. “Hey, uh,” he checked the little sign the driver had hanging on the back of the seat, “Snap? You’re a fan of Organa?”

Snap ceased his humming along to _Wonderwall_ to answer Ben’s question. “Yeah, of course. I grew up listening to the album of her European tour, and her students coming out of Anderson are consistently the best. Not to mention Sunflower! So yeah, I’m a fan.”

“And… you said, earlier, you’d do anything to go to this concert tomorrow night. Did you mean that?”

Traffic was at a standstill, which gave Snap the opportunity to turn around in his seat to level an inquisitive look at Ben. “Yeah. Why?”

Ben leaned forward. “My name is Ben Organa Solo, I’m half of the Scruffy Looking Nerf Herders, Leia Organa is my mom, and I really fucked up today. If you drive me up to Vermont right now, I will pay you whatever fare you want, and I guarantee you a good seat at that concert.”

Snap looked him up and down disbelievingly. “Are you fucking serious, my dude?” 

“Deadly fucking serious.”

Snap’s face opened into a huge lopsided smile. “We're gonna do this, and you're gonna tell me why the hell you're down here instead of up there to begin with.”

Ben promised that he would, and Snap marked the ride as finished and signed out of the Uber app. This one was off the record.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the film, Rosemary leaves in the evening, after being told in the morning that the guys were selling out the show, and after Danny and Vera-Ellen announce a (false) engagement, leading her to believe her sister wants to break up the group. It didn't make sense to me that Ben would hang around after what Poe (thought he) overheard, and I certainly wasn't going to put Finn and Rose in the position of announcing an engagement (false or not), so instead I had him leave immediately, with the upset about the show and his (unfounded) jealousy occurring all at once. I'm still not entirely sure that it's _believable_ , but it's based on a fairly unbelievable film to begin with, so oh well.
> 
> And we have Snap! I love Snap and I had fun making him into a Uber driver.


	7. Two days to Christmas (part two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long slog home. Ben and Snap make some more new friends!

If Ben Solo had to be stuck in a car with a random Uber driver, he couldn’t have done much better than Snap Wexley. Snap was funny, he had good taste in music, he could tell when Ben wanted to chat and when he wanted to be quiet, and - most importantly - he was a good driver. They had to exit the beltway to move in the other direction, and he had them heading north on interstate 87 before too much time had passed.

The route was pretty direct, Snap said. He’d grown up near Albany, so the first part of the route would be very familiar to him: straight north on 87 for three hours, then to get to the inn it would be another three hours or so on the state highway and smaller roads. It was 7:30 by the time they were heading the right direction on the beltway, and they were confident they’d reach Pine Tree by 2am if they didn’t make too many stops.

As Snap drove, Ben read through his emails. The one from Poe explained that he’d heard Hux and Rey making fun of another agent through the door, and he’d thought they were being serious but didn’t ask about it at the time, “because I’m a huge asshole.” He was thoroughly apologetic for having dragged Ben into his own issues. (Apparently Hux was inclined to forgive; he was flattered that Poe cared enough about what he thought of him to be so very dramatic when he thought Hux was being disloyal. Ben didn’t understand that calculation at all, but he was happy his friend was going to get off so easily, as it were.) 

Holdo called him all sorts of names in her message, she was worried about him, and complained about how much more difficult it was to keep Leia out of the loop since he fucked off like that. Apparently they’d told Leia that Ben had had to leave quickly to take care of some business back in New York, which didn’t actually make any sense but was the best they could come up with at the time, and that Rey was really sick with a 24 hour bug. Ben didn’t understand what that meant, but apparently there were a lot of white lies being told in his absence. In any case Holdo had Leia busy decorating winter-themed cookies for a late-night reception to be held after the show, so she was holed up in the kitchen and blissfully unaware of all the drama.

He replied to both emails briefly, to say he’d received them and was heading home. They both replied within minutes; everyone at the inn was happy to hear it, the show would go on, everything would be fine _just_ _get here Ben_.

The email from Finn came last, and Ben opened it with his heart in his throat.

> Hey Ben,
> 
> So Hux explained what happened. You couldn’t have waited a few minutes? You’re my best friend, you’re my _brother_ , and when shit happens we have to be able to talk about it. I don’t know if I love Rose, but if I do (and if she loves me) we need to decide what happens. I love you and the Nerf Herders and I believe there’s a way to make everything work. We can grow; we don’t have to stay the way we are now. But we need to be able to communicate.
> 
> Anyway. Do you care about Rey? Because she locked herself in her room after you left and she’s not coming out for anything, she won’t even talk to Rose. Did you know her parents left her when she was a baby? Shit like that leaves you with a lot of scars and really you should have thought about that before you fucking ran away like that. I know you know what it feels like to be deserted; she's got that too. There’s another person you need to learn to talk to, if that’s really what you want. Do you want to be with Rey? You can’t just fuck off when things go south. 
> 
> We haven’t said anything about cancelling the show, but we can’t do it without you and Rey. Please come back, at least for mom. She has no fucking clue what’s happening and we want to keep it that way. 
> 
> Come back to us, you dumb fuck.
> 
> Finn

Ben turned his phone over on his thigh, closed his eyes, and leaned his head against the window again. He listened to the sound of the tires on the road and thought about Rey, lying alone in her room; and he prayed to whoever was in charge that he might get home soon, and that she might find it in her heart to forgive him someday.

* * *

Fate was not cooperative. It started snowing by the time they were passing Poughkeepsie, and there were several small accidents in a row that had the traffic moving more and more slowly. Traffic was very heavy; apparently a lot of people were heading north for Christmas Eve. The arrival time on Snap’s GPS kept moving later and later, from 2am to 2:30, 3:00… Eventually the car was running low on gas, and both of the men were getting hungry, so they decided to stop for a meal and to fill up the gas tank. It was already 11:30pm and they were barely a quarter of the way there. 

Ben and Snap walked into the Malden Travel Plaza to the chorus of Bizet’s “L'amour est un oiseau rebelle,” from _Carmen_ , which turned both of their heads. That aria had been his mom’s signature song so it always made Ben think of her, and tonight especially so. It wasn’t being played over the sound system; it was being sung by a group of young people gathered around several tables over on the far end of the building, closest to the McDonalds. One young woman - their Carmen, apparently - was standing on a table, and the people surrounding her were singing:

> _L'amour est enfant de Bohême  
>  Il n'a jamais, jamais connu de loi_

Then Carmen herself sang, as she strutted on the table and made eyes at one particular young man standing on the floor below, who Ben assumed was their Don José.

> _Si tu ne m’aimes pas_  
>  _Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime!_  
>  _Mais, si je t’aime_  
>  _Si je t’aime, prends garde à toi!_

Her voice was pure, and strongest on the high notes, which implied to Ben that she was a soprano pretending to be a mezzo, just for an evening. He turned to Snap to say as much, but it was clear that Snap wasn’t going to hear anything Ben had to say right now; he only had eyes for Carmen. Ben could understand why. The singer had very dark skin, very short hair, high cheekbones, delicate features; she was a beauty, with an incredible voice. Ben watched Snap out of the corner of his eye as they all applauded, and the man exclaimed “Bravo!” and made his way towards the gathering.

“Way to go, Maz!” One of the others shouted as the woman stepped down off the table. “You'll make a mezzo yet!” She laughed delightfully and waved her hand at the offender. Snap made it to the table just in time to help her down from the chair. She thanked him, and he blushed. She glanced at Ben once she reached the floor, but he had already turned to check out the food options so he didn't notice the perceptive look she aimed at his retreating back.

Ben was more hungry than he was feeling social, so he ordered some burgers and fries from the bored cashier at McDonalds and brought the food over to where Snap was getting friendly with the people who, as Ben had surmised, were a group of recent Anderson graduates making the trek up to Pine Tree from Philadelphia and New York City.

“We heard the call from Rey on the _Today Show_ this morning, and it turned out there were still rooms available so we decided to make the trip!” Carmen - Maz - was saying to Snap as Ben made his way to the table. “We are so excited to be able see the show, and to meet Leia Organa. She had already retired by the the time we all got to Anderson, but we’ve heard so much about her.” The others made room for him to sit next to his new friend, and they ate while the group introduced themselves. 

“My full name isn't Maz, it’s shortened from Mozambique,” she explained.

“Oh, is that where you’re from?” Snap asked.

She giggled and rolled her eyes. “No, I’m from Kenya, my parents just had interesting ideas about naming children. I have a sister named Tanzania.”

Snap nodded at her as though it was the most interesting thing he’d ever heard, to the apparent amusement of everyone else there.

There was a blonde woman with two little buns on each side of her head named Kaydel, the short, brown-haired young man who had been playing Don José when they came in was named Dopheld (“please call me Mitaka, though, everyone does!”), a very tall man with a big beard and a very deep voice introduced himself as Chewie (to which Maz responded, “he prefers to be called Chuck.” He’d frowned at her, “It’s Chewie.” “Chuck.” “Chewie!” “Chuck!” - this appeared to be an ongoing argument for them), a dark-haired woman named Jess, another woman named Tallie who seemed to be a couple of years older than the others, and another young man with the improbable name of _Yolo_ (“Yes, that is my given name, unfortunately.”). There were others too, but their names and faces ran together and Ben stopped paying attention; about fifteen in total.

As Ben and Snap ate, Ben asked them why they were all making the trip when they hadn’t even met Leia Organa. They had no idea who Ben was, so they had no reason not to answer honestly.

“Her spirit is everywhere on campus, man. She made the vocal arts program what it is, and it’s the best in the country, one of the best in the world. What kind of person do you have to be to be able to do something like that?”

“Yes, but even so her reputation is all kindness. I mean, you could build a program and be a huge asshole,” at this there were a few grumbles of agreement from the others, “but seriously there are _no stories_ about her being a jerk. Not even one.”

“I mean, she could be strict. I’ve heard stories about students who got kicked out and stuff,” another mumbled chorus of agreements, “but they all deserved it. It’s a tough program that puts out the best singers.”

“And everyone who graduates deserves to,” added another one. “That’s why the reputation is so good. Everyone is good, is still good now, even though Organa’s been gone for years.”

“Hey, you guys hear they call her _The General_ up at her inn? How awesome is that?”

“That’s about right though, isn’t it? I hope she runs that inn the way she ran the program. Bunch of lucky bastards up there.”

“And like, can we talk about Sunflower for a second? Because those two didn’t even study under Organa.” A few voices of dissent. “No man, it’s true! Rey was under Mon Mothma, and Rose was under… oh, I don’t know, was it Wren?”

“Sella, I thought?”

“See, the fact that we’re not even sure who Rose studied under? That’s kind of amazing, because in any other program the professor would be bragging about it. But not at Anderson. That’s why we love it.”

“That’s how Organa made it.”

* * *

When Ben was done eating he went to use the restroom. He was surprised when he came out, wiping his still-damp hands on the legs of his jeans, to find Maz waiting for him. She had a nervous smile on her face and was playing with her smartphone, turning it over and over in her hands.

“Hey, Maz,” he said. “Are you okay?”

She gazed at him for a long moment, then looked at the ground, flustered. “I, um,” she blew out a breath. “I have a thing. It's.” She shook her head and tilted it to the opposite extreme, looking at the ceiling.

Ben set a hand on her shoulder. He was getting a very weird feeling, just at the base of his skull. “What is it?”

At his touch she looked at him, really looked at him. He felt as though she was gazing straight into his soul. “You need to talk to her, Ben. _Kuzungumza naye_. _Talk to her_.” Her eyes lost their intensity and she took a step back. “Does that mean something to you?”

Ben couldn't reply, but she could tell from his expression that it did. She groaned in relief. “I get feelings about things,” she said by way of explanation, waving her phone idly.

“Oh yeah?” Ben asked, eager to move the conversation away from him as they looked back towards the gathering at the tables. “Do you get any kind of feeling about Snap?”

Maz’s expression transformed into a devious grin. “Oh, I do, and it's a good feeling.” She held her phone up. “I got his number.”

Ben nodded and pulled out his own phone. “Go talk to him then, I'll be right over. I have a, uh, phone call to make.” Maz punched him in the arm good-naturedly and made her way back to the group while Ben went to a quiet corner to call the inn and, hopefully, talk to Rey.

* * *

Ben pulled up Columbia Inn on his contacts list and took a breath before pressing the call button. It was almost midnight; it was possible Holdo was already in bed. Maybe no one would answer and he wouldn’t have to worry about talking to anyone. 

He hadn’t considered that the show was tomorrow, and that there might be people arriving overnight. Poe answered on the first ring.

“Good evening, Columbia Inn, how can I help you?” He sounded exhausted.

“Hey Poe, it’s Ben.”

He heard movement on the other end of the line, and then Poe’s voice, quieter. “Ben, thank god. You’re still coming back, right? Where are you? Do you need a ride from the airport?”

“No, man, I’m taking an Uber, and...” 

Poe interrupted with a barked laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me? An Uber, from New York City? How much is it going to cost you? How much longer is it going to take? Where _are_ you?” Ben could hear someone talking behind him - Holdo, he assumed - but Poe hushed them.

“We’re at some travel plaza near Albany. It’s snowing here and there have been so many accidents, I have no idea when we’ll get there but we will, I _promise_ we will.”

“Who is this _we_?”

“Uh, driver, a guy named Snap.” He growled in frustration. “Look, I really called to talk to Rey. Do you think I can talk to her?”

A loaded silence followed. “Look, man, I don’t know.” Poe was whispering now. “She hasn’t left her room, hasn’t talked to anybody, hasn’t eaten, she’s just in there alone. She wouldn’t even let Rose in; she is sleeping in your room tonight.” The subtext of the comment was heavy in Poe’s voice, but Ben ignored it. 

“Look, can you try? What if you ring my call up. Just try that. If she doesn’t pick up, we’ll figure something else out. Please?” He glanced around the potted plants topping the low wall that separated the restroom doors from the rest of the travel plaza to watch Snap and the Anderson alumni, who had just launched into a rousing rendition of _Frosty the Snowman_.

“Okay, man,” Poe said skeptically. “If she doesn’t answer in five rings I’m bringing it back down here.” Immediately there was a click and a moment of silence, before the phone began to ring.

 **One ring…**

> _Frosty the Snowman_  
>  _Made the children laugh and play_

Ben shifted nervously from foot to foot.

**Two rings…**

> _And were they surprised when_  
>  _Before their eyes_

Ben tried to swallow his apprehension, but it didn’t work.

**Three rings...**

> _He came to life that day_

He couldn’t decide which was worse: the wait, the fear that the phone would keep ringing, or the dread that she would pick it up. But he didn’t have long to consider the question, because it was at that moment that she picked up the phone.

There was silence. “Um, hello?” Ben said.

More silence, but a creak that could be the sound of someone shifting on a bed. “Rey, it’s, uh, it’s Ben.”

A small sigh, followed by more shifting. Ben waited a moment before speaking again. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not enough; but I wanted to tell you, I’m just so sorry. For believing you’d do something so awful, and for running away instead of talking to you about it. I’m sorry.”

He stopped, for a moment, but there was no more sound. He hoped she was still there, that she was listening. “I, um. I have anger issues. I’m not making an excuse, I just want you to understand this is partly why… I was arrested and had to…” there was a small noise on the other end of the phone and Ben immediately stopped talking.

After a few seconds the noise came again, a small voice. Rey’s voice. “Finn told me, you don’t have to explain.” Hearing her voice, so sad and soft, broke something inside him. His nervousness fell away, to be replaced with a profound sorrow. He was suddenly fighting tears. 

He wasn’t going to cry. She might consider that manipulation, and that was the last thing he needed right now. He needed her to know he was being honest. So he took the time to close his eyes, and breathe, and in a moment he was back under control. 

Rey remained still and quiet on the other end of the line.

The Anderson group had moved on to _It Came Upon a Midnight Clear_. 

“I was so angry, and I was afraid that if I talked to you I’d end up yelling or throwing things, and you’d be afraid of me, and that thought broke my heart. I never want to frighten you, never ever. I just… I didn’t think about the alternative.”

Ben paused again, and considered. “But this was worse, probably. For you. I didn’t think about that, and I should have, and I’m sorry. If you ever forgive me, which you shouldn't, but if you do, I promise I’ll never run away again. I’ll never leave you, Rey. I’m coming back tonight and I’ll never, ever leave you again.” He was crying, now, and maybe she’d think it was manipulation but there was nothing he could do about it. 

“It wasn’t just you, though, not just that. Finn is falling in love with Rose, and I’m so scared of losing him. I’ve never had to share him before, and I just have no idea how to do it.” He paused to wipe his eyes on his sleeve. “Do… do you worry about that? With Rose?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Oh. How…”

Rey interrupted him. “Ben, you need to come back for the show. Come for the show, for your mom.”

She didn’t want to talk about his issues. That was totally fair. He was selfish to even bring it up. “Okay. Yes. I promise, as soon as I can. And Rey, you need to eat something, please. And talk to Rose, okay? Let her take care of you.”

She made a noise that could have been a laugh but was probably a sob. “Ben, I… we wrote a song. Rose and I wrote a song, for us all to sing.”

“I… wow. That’s great.” There was something in his throat, in his eyes, his heart. 

Another sound, definitely a laugh this time, but not a happy one. “I guess. I’m not sure we can sing it now. And. I’m sorry, but,” he could hear the tears in her voice, “I don’t think I can sing _Mirrorbright_ with you. You can do it by yourself, or maybe with Rose. But… I don’t think I can. I can’t.”

Ben nodded. The thought of not singing it with her for the show stung, it stung badly, but the memories attached to it were so strong, and he couldn’t blame her. “That’s fair. I understand that it’s really a lot…” but as he finished the sentence he realized that the call had been disconnected. Rey had hung up.

Ben stared at his phone for a few seconds before slowly making his way through the crowded room to the group, which was still singing, always singing.

> _O ye beneath life's crushing load,_  
>  _Whose forms are bending low,_  
>  _Who toil along the climbing way_  
>  _With painful steps and slow;_  
>  _Look now, for glad and golden hours_  
>  _Come swiftly on the wing;_  
>  _Oh rest beside the weary road_  
>  _And hear the angels sing._

* * *

By the time everyone was ready to leave it was nearing 12:45 and they all said their goodbyes. Snap, who had spent the entire time in Maz’s company, was especially sad to say goodbye; but they had already made plans to meet up in New York after the holiday. Snap and Ben had kept their own destination a secret, but Ben hoped that they’d be able to see them again at the show. Well, they’d certainly be seeing him again, anyway.

“Man, I can’t believe you didn’t say anything about who you are,” Snap said to him as they buckled themselves back into the Prius. “I’d have told all those guys that Leia Organa’s your mom, they’d be begging for your autograph too.”

Ben leaned his head against the window. He was still sore from his call with Rey. He wasn’t sure if it had done any good at all. “Nah, man, you’d just do it to impress Carmen.”

Snap placed his right hand over his heart and sighed. “Her name is _Mozambique_. Maz. You know she’s doing a master’s in Computer Science? What an amazing person she is. And such a voice.” A pause. “But yeah, how did it feel hearing them talk about your mom like that?”

Ben closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “Felt great, like we’re definitely doing the right thing with this show. And also shitty, because I’m such an idiot I ran away instead of taking a minute to talk to someone.” Ben had explained the situation to Snap early in their time together, and the driver had been sympathetic but not exactly forgiving. (“Well, that was a dumbass thing to do,” had been the first words out of his mouth after hearing the entire story.)

Snap checked the rear-view mirror as he pulled out of the spot. “Well, don’t worry too much about it, Ben. I’ll get you there, even if it takes all night. Which,” he glanced at the GPS, with a current arrival time of 5:30am, “it looks like it will.”

Ben breathed his thanks, and allowed sleep to overtake him, hoping that they would have enough time today to learn the new song. He hoped, with all his heart, that they would at least be able to sing the new song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Maz Maz Maz Maz Maz Maz Maz Maz I love Maz_
> 
>  
> 
> There's a fair amount of music mentioned in this chapter:
> 
> Bizet's “L'amour est un oiseau rebelle,” from _Carmen_ has been mentioned before, but it's worth mentioning here again; [the version I listed to while writing this story](https://youtu.be/K2snTkaD64U).  
> Translation of the bit that Maz sings:
>
>> Love is a bohemian's child,  
> it has never, never known what law is,  
> if you do not love me, i love you  
> if i love you, then beware!  
> if you do not love me,  
> if you do not love me, i love you!  
> but if i love you,  
> if i love you, then beware!
> 
> [Frosty the Snowman](https://youtu.be/N6p6LRtQ2WY) is a really popular classic Christmas movie cartoon in the USA; not sure how popular it is elsewhere. [This song is the theme song for the movie](https://youtu.be/SDNcJL90Y9A).
> 
> It Came Upon a Midnight Clear is a religious Christmas hymn that you can find in lots of different versions but although I grew up singing it at church, accompanied by a pipe organ, [I really like this one by Sixpence None the Richer](https://youtu.be/w9MH_EWNP9c).
> 
> Thank you for coming back for Sunday! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!! For Christmas Eve we'll get the point of view of someone we haven't yet, and I for one am looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!


	8. Christmas Eve (part one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making up and figuring out some last-minute details.

The next thing Ben knew there was a hand on his knee, shaking him gently. “Hey man, we’re here, wake up.” Dim light filtered through the windows; and as Ben opened his eyes, he could see the familiar angle of the inn’s roof in contrast with the dark blue of the sky, barely lit by the earliest morning twilight.

He groaned and stretched as well as he could, considering the cramped space of the back seat. His head had settled at an unfortunate angle overnight, and he rubbed his neck in an attempt to ease the muscle. But at least he’d slept. “What time is it?”

There were dark circles under Snap’s eyes, but he smiled cheerfully. “It’s almost six-thirty. It took us a bit to get to Albany, but the snow pretty much cleared up once we left New York state and we made better time from there.” The sentence was punctuated by a lengthy yawn, and Ben realized he had no idea how long Snap had been awake. Twenty-four hours? Longer?

“Hey man, you must be exhausted. Thanks for driving all night, but you deserve a break. Let’s get you some food and a place to sleep, okay?”

Snap nodded in agreement and in moments they were inside, being greeted by Holdo, who was already dressed and had probably been up for an hour or more, prepping breakfast for a full house.

She folded Ben into a warm embrace that smelled of sage. “Thank you for coming back, Ben. We’re so happy you’re here.”

“It was so stupid of me, I’m such an idiot. I’m sorry.”

She stepped back but kept her hands on his shoulders, and shook her head. “Calling yourself names doesn’t help; just don’t do it again, okay?”

He introduced Snap and allowed her to pull them into the kitchen, where she fed them a hearty breakfast of homemade sausage and scrambled eggs. She’d made English muffins, too, fresh off the griddle, that steamed when they broke open and were chewy and soft slathered in butter.

Word of their arrival was spreading; Finn came down next, still in his pajamas. He crushed Ben in a hug, called him a fucking asshole, then introduced himself to Snap and offered to let him sleep in Ben’s bed. “Nobody else is going to,” he grinned at Ben, “we have a show to rehearse. You slept in the car?” 

Ben nodded. “I got enough.”

“Well good; because if you hadn’t, today would be real miserable for you.” He looked his friend up and down. “You should probably take a shower or something before we start, though; you look pretty lousy.”

Poe and Hux came next, rumpled and apologetic and holding hands; they were sleeping in Poe’s room, apparently, to make more room for paying guests. Finally, his mom. She didn’t say much, just gave him a hug and said she was glad to see him again, and that she didn’t understand what business would be so important as to pull him away the day before a show. There was a sparkle in her eye that implied she knew more than she was letting on; but if she wasn’t going to say anything, Ben wasn’t going to either. The only ones who hadn’t shown themselves were Rose and Rey; and as much as Ben was excited to see Rey again, he was also terrified, and was willing for that to be put off for as long as possible.

It wasn’t put off for long. Finn, Ben and Snap vacated the kitchen to make room for Holdo and Leia to finish up breakfast for the masses, and as they reached the bottom of the stairs, two figures were awaiting them at the top. One was Rose, already dressed. She waved down at Ben nervously. Standing slightly in front of her was Rey. Rey was wearing pajamas, blue this time; and her hair was down and very messy, although her face looked clear and well-rested. 

She stared down at Ben. The expression on her face was neutral, and he was trying his best to decode its meaning, when she broke into a tiny smile - _a smile_ \- and before he had a chance to even acknowledge the relief that flooded his system, she galloped halfway down the stairs and launched herself at him with a wild shout. He had just enough time to drop his duffle before grabbing her out of the air, and she wrapped herself around him, her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. She was warm and soft and she smelled like sleep. It felt amazing, and he wanted to hold her forever.

“Last night, you promised,” she whispered into his neck as she clung to him. “You promise now, you’ll never leave me again.”

“Never,” he breathed, holding her tighter. “I promise. Never. I’ll stay with you for as long as you’ll have me.”

“And you promise to always talk to me.”

“I promise. I will always talk to you. Always.”

Her grip weakened, and he lowered her so that her feet were on the ground. She kept her arms around him and held his eyes with her own. “I forgive you, Ben, this time. One time. If you ever do anything like this again, it’s over. Do you understand?” Her tone was the flinty quality that was becoming familiar. It meant she was serious, but so was he.

“I do understand,” he replied, as he threaded his fingers through the hair at the sides of her head. “I understand. And I promise.”

Rey took one final look in his eyes before pulling him down with the lapels of his jacket and kissing him with more passion than he thought he’d ever felt in a single kiss. They only stopped when Snap cleared his throat and said, “Sorry to interrupt, guys; but I am about to fall asleep on my feet, and I’d really like to take a shower before I do.”

* * *

Ben was back, and Rey couldn’t keep her hands off him. They’d made up at the bottom of the stairs, and then she and Ben had showered together in her and Rose’s room. They told themselves it was out of kindness to Snap; that he needed to shower too, and there was no reason to make him wait unless it was absolutely necessary, but they both knew that was a lie. Unfortunately they didn’t have time to do much, but they used it wisely. Fifteen minutes after stepping in together, they were back out again; clean and refreshed, ready for the show, and looking forward to what would come after.

After the phone call, Rey had lain awake in bed for a while, weighing her options. She had two, really. One, push through the show, leave for New York immediately after, and do her best to pretend that Ben Solo didn’t exist. Never speak to him again. This would be hard, for myriad reasons; not the least of which was that it wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted _him_. He’d made a mistake, a really bad one, but he wasn’t a bad _person_. He’d called her to apologize, and he did seem very sorry. The second option was to forgive him, wholeheartedly and completely, while also making it clear that he could never run off like that again. It didn’t take her long to make her decision. She came downstairs after she’d decided, for a snack; which ended with her crying on Poe’s shoulder in the kitchen. She was still mad at Poe, just a little; but eventually she’d forgive him. 

Despite having missed a full day of rehearsals, they weren’t exactly behind; and they still had the morning to work though Leia’s suggestions, which is what they did. Holdo, Hux, and Poe were keeping Leia busy in other parts of the inn, so they were able to run through the entire show. Despite what she’d said on the phone, Rey had decided she wanted to sing “Mirrorbright” with Ben after all. He cried when she told him she’d changed her mind, which convinced her it was the right decision. Finn and Rose had a duet as well, and the duets would be followed by the song the four of them would sing together; the song that Rey and Rose had written the night before everything had gone to hell.

They finished up the full rehearsal in the early afternoon, and then made their way to the kitchen for a late lunch. The other four were outside drinking and playing lawn games with the inn guests; but Snap was awake, and had already pulled out fixings and some of Holdo’s fresh bread to make himself a sandwich. He sat quietly and listened, as they talked about the show and complained about the few things they still needed to figure out.

“Finn, I appreciate your help as the third voice in the chorus for _No One’s From Nowhere_ ; but I really think it would sound better in a higher register,” Rey said, contemplating her sandwich. “Do you guys think Leia would do it, if I asked her nicely?”

Finn shook his head. “We’re already putting her on the spot enough tonight; I wouldn’t ask.”

“I agree,” said Ben. “Finn sounds fine. Just go with it, Rey.” And he smiled down at her, seated on the stool next to him. She put her left arm around him while she held the sandwich in her right. It was a bit awkward, maybe, but she didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to put her hands on him, especially now that she knew what, exactly, he was hiding under his clothes.

Snap cleared his throat. “You know, if you want a third voice, I have a friend.” 

Ben laughed. “A friend? Is this who I’m thinking of?”

“Yeah, of course,” he replied. “I’m just saying, if you need a female with a voice, I know one; and she’s in town, and she’d be thrilled to do it.”

“Oh, I know who you’re talking about,” Rey said with a grin. “The singer from the travel plaza, right?”

“He’s just looking for an excuse to call her,” Rose laughed around her mouthful of sandwich.

Snap admitted as much. “Maybe so, but Ben can confirm her vocal chops, and if you need help…”

Rey shrugged. “It would work for me.”

The others nodded in agreement, and Snap went back up to Ben’s room to make the call.

* * *

Leia had known, all week, that something was happening, something beyond the show, for which she had kindly been allowed to advise, and to which she was very much looking forward. 

Her missing phone had been the first clue. Her phone never just _went missing_. She had places she’d set it down, a number of them around the inn, so she would always know where she could find it. The only way it wouldn’t be in any of those places was if someone took it.

So someone - probably Amilyn, because anyone else would be afraid to - had taken her phone. For what reason, though? The only things she did with her phone was play silly games and check her email. Silly games weren’t an issue; she had self control, and if they _were_ an issue, Amilyn would stage an intervention before she’d take the phone away. So it was email. They didn’t want her to contact, or to be contacted.

With any other group of people, it could be the opening for a horror movie; but with the group she had at the inn, it was kind of endearing.

Then there were the secret rehearsals that she wasn’t supposed to know about, but she did; because they were her kids, and this was her inn, and she was not _stupid_. She knew that there were other things happening behind the scenes of the show. It was undoubtedly something for her. It pleased her to think that the people around her right now - her kids, her friends, her employees, her former students, her fans - cared enough to do something special for her. It felt good. So once she figured that something was going on, she didn’t push. She decided to let it happen; to play along, even. When Amilyn said how much fun it would be to bake cookies for a reception after the show, she went along with it. So what if it was just to keep her in the kitchen and out of the way? When Poe suggested leisurely walks around the property in the afternoons, she said sure, why not? The weather wasn’t good for business, but it was pleasant enough to be out in it. And when Amilyn wouldn’t let her near the television, and Ben left suddenly for _very important business_ and then showed up in an Uber, and Rey got the stomach flu, and Hux and Poe had a fight and very quickly made up, and Finn and Rose spent the night together, she just nodded; then stayed quiet and absorbed every bit of information she could gather.

It wasn’t much. Leia still wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. She just hoped she’d like whatever it was.

The first thing that actually set off alarm bells didn't happen until Monday, Christmas Eve; when everyone was in overdrive to finish preparations for the show. Ben had arrived back from his “business” early that morning, Rey was magically back to 100% after her stomach bug, and Amilyn, Poe and Hux were spending the day trying to keep the suddenly large number of guests at the inn entertained; while also, Leia was certain, trying to keep track of her. Since there was no snow, they’d pulled the summer games out of storage and set up areas outside for people to play bocce ball, horseshoes, badminton, croquet, and cornhole; although it seemed like most of them were content to sit in lawn chairs, look out at the brown, snowless hills, and drink. The kids were back in the ski lodge, which Leia hadn’t been allowed in since the previous morning, for final rehearsals. She had tried socializing with the guests, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that everybody knew something that she didn’t; and it was unnerving. So to give herself something to do, she went inside to see what she might wear for the show; being sure to let Amilyn know what she was doing first. Leia wasn’t performing; but if her instincts were correct, she should still put in an effort to look presentable.

Five minutes after retreating to her room, Leia was pulling her oldest friend away from mingling in the yard and into a corner of the kitchen, the other woman’s glass of white wine still gripped in her hand.

“Where,” Leia demanded, “are all my dresses?”

Amilyn, very slightly tipsy, was obviously working very hard to keep from laughing right in Leia’s face. “Leia, my dear, we wanted to make sure they were ready for the show, so you’d be able to wear exactly what you wanted tonight. We took them all to the cleaners earlier this week.”

“So where are they _now_?”

“Oh,” replied Amilyn, taking a sip of wine. “They’re still at the cleaners. They were overwhelmed with orders, apparently. We’ll get them back after Christmas.”

“After Christmas! I don’t have anything to _wear_ , Amilyn. What am I going to wear tonight?”

Her friend was smiling mischievously. “You do have one dress. It’s in the laundry room. Come on.” And she took Leia’s elbow and led her into the private wing where the two women and Poe made their home. They walked through the small, cluttered living room, down the hallway past the bedrooms and the bathroom, and finally to the laundry room at the end; which served both the inn and their personal needs. Amilyn pulled Leia into the room and then shut the door, turning her around so she could see the dress that was hanging on the back of it. The dress had a simple, modest cut, with a high neckline, a cinched-in waist, and a skirt that Leia knew would reach her ankles. It was chiffon, layers of black chiffon, with translucent black chiffon sleeves terminated by black lace cuffs. Soft, black, feminine, beautiful. 

Leia gasped, which was followed by a moment of shocked silence, and then a sigh. “Oh _Amilyn_. No, no, no, I can’t wear this dress.”

“And why not?” Her friend’s voice held a challenge that Leia wasn’t particularly interested in meeting.

“Well, for one thing, it’ll never fit me. I last wore this dress in about 1982. I’m shaped nothing like I was in 1982, so the thought of me wearing this dress now is completely ridiculous.”

Amilyn blew a puff of air out of her mouth and set down her wine glass. “You might be surprised; maybe it’s a Christmas miracle. Why don’t you take it to your room and try it on, hm? Just try.”

Leia groaned, unhooked the dress from the back of the door, and took it down the hall to her own room. 

Clearly, something was up, and it was more than she’d expected. Why else would they force her to wear the dress that she wore during her 1979 tour? Yes indeed. Something interesting was going to happen that night, and Leia still didn’t know what it was. 

* * *

The rest of the afternoon was probably a blur, to everyone except for Leia. 

She was stuck in the private living area, or at least she felt stuck there. The others were elsewhere, either running logistics to make sure the guests were where they needed to be, or dressing for the show. Maybe they were running last minute rehearsals; who knew. She could hear commotion; steps in the hallway above her, voices in the lobby, motors in the driveway outside the inn, but she couldn’t really see anything. She tried, she really did; but the vehicles she could hear were coming up the other side of the building, around to the back side of the ski lodge where the loading doors behind the stage were located. They didn’t get anywhere near the one window that faced the front of the inn. It seemed like more noise than was necessary, given the size of the event, but no one was going to tell her anything; and anyway, she didn’t have anyone to ask.

She’d taken a bath, put on her dress, done up her hair, and put on some makeup. The show was scheduled to start at seven, and it was six thirty; and she was bored, bored, bored. Was it fair to be so bored when one was also so very, very excited?

So Leia was thrilled when Armitage Hux knocked on the door and asked if he could come in. He didn’t have to knock; his things were in Poe’s room and he had been told he was free to come and go in the private areas (and when exactly had that happened? This whole week had been so strange), but he insisted on remaining formal. 

He took a seat next to Leia on the sofa. “So, are you ready for the show?”

“Armitage,” she said, leaning slightly forward, “I know that something is up.”

“Hm hm. Do you think you know what is up?”

She chuckled. “I have no idea. I will admit that the choice of dress has me a bit concerned.”

He eyed the thick layers of chiffon that grazed her ankles. “It’s a beautiful dress. Your concert dress, if I’m not mistaken?”

“The one and only. I wore this dress all the way across Europe and back. I was wearing this dress when I met Han Solo - that’s Ben’s father. Lots of memories. Amilyn did a wonderful job letting it out, it fits me perfectly. I certainly never thought I’d wear it again.”

Armitage took her hands in his and asked, softly, “Do you think you’ll sing again?”

Leia sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, Armitage. I was so sure; and then I got that letter from Ransolm, and now I’m not sure. It’s been a long time, maybe people have forgotten me. Maybe nobody wants to hear me sing again after all.”

“Leia Organa, please consider who you’re addressing!” Armitage declared with a laugh. “I am your friend; but a few days ago I was a fan, just another fan, and there are so many people like me, people who would _love_ to see you back on the stage.” He looked over his shoulder, as though there might be someone listening, and then whispered, “Do you honestly think this show sold out just because people wanted to see Sunflower? Or the Nerf Herders? They are coming to see them, yes; but there are people coming here tonight because they want to see _you_. They want to support _you_. And many of them, I’m sure, would love to hear you sing again.” He squeezed her hands. “Please remember that tonight.”

Leia was speechless. She hadn’t even considered that anyone might come to the show for anything other than the show itself. But she didn’t have much time to consider it, because her friend was standing up and pulling her towards the door.

“Showtime,” he said, his hand on the doorknob. “Are you ready?”

She was. She really, really was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No songs or skits in this chapter, but I'll make it up to you in the next one!
> 
> [Leia's dress was designed by Philippe Guibourge for Chanel's 1978-79 fall and winter collection.](https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-oct-04-1978-philippe-guibourge-created-this-long-black-chiffon-dress-69493458.html)   
> 
> 
>   
> Inspiration TBH, I love them so dang much.


	9. Christmas Eve (part two): The Performance

The show was a blur, and yet Leia would remember every detail for the rest of her life.

At five minutes after seven the lobby was deserted, aside from Finn in his Little Boy costume with Scruffy on a tray, Rey and Rose in their terrible sweaters, jingle bells in hand, and Armitage and Leia in their black tie dress.

Finn pushed open the door to the ski lodge, and Leia took Armitage by the crook of his elbow and allowed him to lead her through the door. They paused at the top of the steps and Leia gasped in shock.

The room was packed. There were at least 200 people; seated in rows of chairs, around the fire pit, and even on the bar. She was a bit ashamed that her first thought was that she hoped the fire marshal never heard about this; because there was no way this wasn’t far more people than they could legally have in this room. 

As soon as they stepped in the door, more than half of the audience stood up and turned to face the back of the room, to face Leia. There were so many faces that she recognized, some of them from very far back indeed. There were colleagues from Anderson: Mon Mothma, Korr Sella, and Gial Ackbar, who had retired years before she had. And former students, dozens of them, many whose names she could no longer remember, but whose faces she would never forget.

As she stood there, too shocked to move, she could hear the strains of a cello, and then they all started to sing. Of course they did.

> For we wish you music  
>  As you go your way  
>  May a song that cheers you be with you everyday.

Leia laughed through her tears as Armitage slowly led her down the stairs and towards the front of the room.

> For we wish you laughter  
>  Happiness and rest  
>  With the golden gift of melody may all your years be blest.

The song was a simple one, but well-loved. It was the first song that all Anderson vocal arts students learned together; and this shared song had been one of the first changes that Leia had implemented when she had been made chair.

> And in your heart a joyful song that sings your whole life long.

The song concluded as Leia reached her seat in the front row. Amilyn was there, and Poe. Ben was crouching on the ground in his costume, his mask not yet over his face, and he gave her a wave and a smile through his own tears. There was one other person in the row, too; a good-looking middle-aged man with blonde curls, who looked abashed. Good.

Before sitting down, Leia turned to face the audience. “Thank you so much, everyone. This was a surprise. I have not seen nor heard anything so wonderful in my whole life. Thank you all for being here tonight.” There was applause, but she quickly shouted over it. “Whose idea was this, anyway?”

Rey’s voice shouted from the back of the room. “It was Hux!”

Leia looked up at him, amongst a smattering of laughter from the audience. “Really?” He nodded. She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek, and his face turned the most remarkable shade of pink. “Thank you,” she whispered. “And thank you, all of you!” she shouted, to more applause.

“Hello, Ransolm,” Leia said to the man standing next to her inside the row of chairs, as she scooted towards her chair and everyone sat down. “I got your letter.”

“Leia, hello. Yes, I imagine you did. However, I would very much like to revisit that topic after the show, if you have time.” He looked quite nervous; even more nervous than he did just before his senior recital. It was satisfying.

Leia traded a glance with Armitage. “I suppose I could find time.” She then turned and whispered to her friend. “Do you think they would let me sing tonight, if I asked nicely?”

He grinned at her, and she imagined there were tears in his eyes. “I expect they would, yes.”

“Good. Very good.” She couldn’t really say more, because at that moment Finn came in through the door shouting about Porgs and Scruffy, and the show was off.

The show was great, better than it had been in rehearsals. It was always like that, though. As a performer you would always feed off the energy of the audience, and this audience had energy to spare. They laughed, and cried, and yelled _MY PORG_ whenever it was required. They were having a great time and it was clear to Leia that the four people on the stage were having just as much fun as the audience was, if not more.

The first real surprise for Leia was after “Hipster of the Year”, when Rose and Rey were joined for _No One’s From Nowhere_ by a third singer, a dark-skinned black woman who had a beautiful, clear soprano voice and a smile that lit up the stage. Rey introduced her as Maz, a recent Anderson graduate. She had apparently been brought in to be the third voice for the chorus, but they had wisely invited her to provide another line of harmony throughout. It improved the acapella version of the song immensely. Since she didn’t recognize her, Leia supposed she must be a very recent graduate indeed; how on earth had they met her? She couldn’t wait to meet her herself.

The next surprise was a trio of songs that came between “Medieval Threesome” and the finale. Finn and Rose sang _All I Want For Christmas Is You_ , with a little rhythmic help from Rey, Ben, and Maz. Then it was Ben and Rey’s turn. 

Ben introduced the song with just a few words. “When I was a kid, my mom used to sing me to sleep; and this was my favorite lullaby. I love you, Mom.” And they sang _Mirrorbright_ , and it was beautiful, and Leia cried all the way through.

When the song was over Rey kissed Ben on the mouth, and that made Leia tear up, too; but for entirely different reasons.

The next song was apparently something new.

“Two days ago, we did our first run-through for this show,” Rose explained to the audience, as the other three arranged themselves around her. “It was pretty special.” A couple of _whoops_ from the audience, and Rose waved her hand. “Aw, thanks guys. Anyway, after that run-through, and even before, Rey and I were pretty sure we’d met up with a couple of special guys.” Another shout from the audience, _They sure are cute!_ , which made the guys laugh and Rose shout, “Sorry, they’re taken, and I’m not done! So anyway, we went back to our room that night and wrote them a song; and here it is. It’s called _You’re Not Alone_.”

The song was simple in all regards - melodically, harmonically, lyrically - but was no less beautiful for its simplicity. Rey and Ben sang the first phrase together, then alternated with Rose and Finn through to the ending.

> You're not alone  
>  (I feel it too)  
>  Not just on your own  
>  (I'm right here with you)  
>  If you can't find your way  
>  (I'll show you, I won't leave)  
>  When you need me beside you I'll stay  
>  (I'll hold you so you can believe)  
>  I always thought I was alone  
>  (Wouldn't see you standing there)  
>  I found that I was known  
>  (You showed me that you care)  
>  Now I can be strong  
>  (You're right here with me)  
>  And we belong  
>  (And we are free)

All four of them closed the song together:

> You're not alone  
>  Neither are you 

Leia wasn’t at all surprised to see that the four singers all had tears on their faces before the song was through. They had been through quite a lot together over the past week; and they _weren’t_ alone, they knew that now. Leia knew that she wasn’t alone, too, and she gripped Armitage’s hand more tightly in her own.

The song earned them extended applause, and then it was time for the finale. The stage went dark for a few minutes, as the foursome went to quickly change their costumes.

When the lights came back up, Rey and Rose were standing in the middle of the stage, wearing shimmering red gowns trimmed with white faux fur, elbow-length gloves made of the same material, and Santa hats to complete the ensemble. They looked to be the very embodiments of Christmas Spirit.

The finale was The Twelve Days of Christmas. Kind of.

> [REY and ROSE are on the stage.]
> 
> REY and ROSE, singing: On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
> 
> [SCRUFFY flies in from the wings and lands on the women]
> 
> FINN: A porg!
> 
> REY kicks SCRUFFY into the audience: NO! [nods at ROSE and they continue singing] 
> 
> REY and ROSE: A partridge in a pear tree! On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
> 
> FINN and BEN, dressed as TROOPER and KYLO, run on to the stage, whacking each other with their swords. They shout: TWO KNIGHTS IN ARMOR
> 
> REY and ROSE: NO! [They wait for FINN and BEN to exit the other side of the stage and continue singing] Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree! 
> 
> [REY and ROSE pause for a moment, looking side to side]
> 
> ROSE: Any sign of them?
> 
> REY: Nope. Let’s keep going.
> 
> REY and ROSE: On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… [they slow to a pause, still glancing around uncertainly, then continue] three French hens, two turtle doves…
> 
> POE, in the audience: AND A PORG [he throws SCRUFFY at them, aiming at the face]
> 
> ROSE, angrily: HEY! 
> 
> [ROSE kicks SCRUFFY back at him and moves to jump off the stage, but REY holds her back]
> 
> REY: No, Rose. Be the better person. Christmas spirit.
> 
> ROSE, still seething: Christmas spirit. Okay. Fine.
> 
> REY and ROSE, starting quickly and speeding up through to the end: On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree!
> 
> [They pause. There is silence.]
> 
> REY: This is a little unnerving. Where do you think they’ve gone?
> 
> ROSE: I don’t know. Should we keep going? [Again, to the audience] Should we keep going?
> 
> [The audience yells YES]
> 
> ROSE: Okay!
> 
> REY and ROSE: On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..
> 
> BEN and FINN, singing at the back of the room: The Porg’s head in hand bear I, bedecked with bay and rosemary!
> 
> [They have SCRUFFY on a platter, held above their heads; they are now dressed in medieval tunics and hose]
> 
> REY: Hey! We aren’t done!
> 
> FINN: We say you’re done. Twelve Days of Christmas is DONE. The Porg’s Head is the new classic Christmas carol.
> 
> [The women are coming down from the stage as the men walk down the aisle. They will meet in the middle]
> 
> ROSE: “The Porg’s Head” isn’t a real Christmas carol, you’re just taking _The Boar’s Head Carol_ and replacing the word “boar” with “porg”.
> 
> REY: It’s lazy; and it doesn’t even rhyme.
> 
> BEN: Oh come on. It is a _bit_ clever, isn’t it? [To the audience] Isn’t it?
> 
> [Mixed shouts]
> 
> BEN: We get to wear these fantastic pointy shoes! [Lifts up his foot so the audience can see]
> 
> BEN to REY, pleading: Come on, just one verse?
> 
> REY, rolling her eyes: Okay.
> 
> FINN: The porg’s head, as I understand / Is the rarest dish in all this land / Which thus bedecked with a gay garland / Let us _servire cantico_. 
> 
> EVERYONE: _Caput porgi defero_ / _Reddens laudes Domino._
> 
> [THE AUDIENCE will be encouraged by certain members thereof to call for another verse]
> 
> BEN to REY, like a jerk: It sounds like they want another verse.
> 
> REY, rolling her eyes: FINE, but just one more, okay? [To the AUDIENCE] Okay? Just one more!
> 
> [As they sing the verse the group makes their way back up on stage]
> 
> REY: Our steward hath provided this / In honor of the King of Bliss; / Which on this day to be servèd is / _In Reginensi atrio_
> 
> EVERYONE: _Caput porgi defero_ / _Reddens laudes Domino._
> 
> [There is a moment of silence. REY narrows her eyes at BEN as though in challenge]
> 
> REY: On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
> 
> [REY sings to the tune of the Carol of the Bells as ROSE _bongs_ ; BEN and FINN grumble and walk off stage]
> 
> REY AND ROSE: Eleven pipers piping (bong) / Ten lords a leaping (bong) / Nine ladies dancing (bong) / Eight maids a milking (bong) / Seven swans a swimming (bong) / Six geese a laying (bong) / Five golden rings (bong) / Four calling birds (bong) / Three french hens (bong) / Two turtle doves (bong) / And Rudolph the red nosed reindeer!
> 
> FINN, belatedly, as SCRUFFY flies in again from the wings: AND A PORG
> 
> ROSE, picking up SCRUFFY: You’re late!
> 
> KYLO, from the wings: A wizard is never late. Nor is he early; he arrives precisely when he means to.
> 
> REY, confused: I don’t … you’re not a wizard? We didn’t rehearse that. [To ROSE, stage whisper] Should I just try to stay on script?
> 
> [FINN and BEN, dressed again as TROOPER and KYLO, stride back onto the stage, holding their swords]
> 
> KYLO: We’re going off-script. This just isn’t working, so we’re going to do something different.
> 
> REY: No you aren’t.
> 
> KYLO: Yes, we are.
> 
> ROSE, dropping SCRUFFY and grabbing TROOPER’s sword: No you _aren’t_!
> 
> TROOPER, grabbing SCRUFFY off the ground: Hey! Yes we _are_!
> 
> ROSE, brandishing the sword as Rey grabs KYLO’s sword out of his hand: NO YOU ARE NOT!
> 
> [REY and ROSE pummel KYLO and TROOPER with the swords as they wail]
> 
> TROOPER, holding SCRUFFY above his head in defeat: WAIT WAIT! I HAVE AN IDEA.
> 
> [Everyone stops to hear what TROOPER has to say. He takes his mask off. He’s just FINN]
> 
> FINN: I heard a rumor.
> 
> EVERYONE: Ooooooooooo, a rumor!
> 
> KYLO: I heard it too [he removes his mask] A rumor that there’s someone else in the audience who is interested in singing tonight.

And he looked right down to where Leia was sitting in the front row.

She wasn’t exactly surprised. She’d seen the finale in rehearsal, and she knew that this was not how it was supposed to end; in fact, the point where Rey complained about the boys going off-script was the point at which it was off-script for her as well. So she wasn’t surprised; but she was impressed, because how did they know that she wanted to sing? Was Armitage passing notes? 

She took a moment to look up at Ben, at all of them, and mouthed _thank you_. Then she stood up, and turned around to face the audience. “How about it?” she asked. “Would you like to hear me sing?”

The audience erupted into cheers that, she had to admit, were immensely gratifying. She smirked down at Ransolm, and then turned to Armitage, who had also stood up to let her out of the row of chairs. She held onto the crook of his elbow. “Come up with me?” she whispered. He grinned like a schoolboy and followed her as she made her way up to the stage. 

Once Leia was on the stage, she had a look around the room. “So I heard a cello earlier. Are you still there, cello player?”

“Here! There are two of us!” A young woman she didn’t recognize and an older man she did waved from a corner of the room, and Leia gestured to them.

“Come join us on stage. I don’t suppose anyone in the audience has a viola, or a flute, do they?” More hands were raised, and Leia had to laugh.

She glanced around and saw Rey, now watching her from the wings. “Rey, did you plan this?” 

The younger singer shrugged. “Maybe? Just in case?”

Leia could only chuckle as the musicians came to the stage and got settled.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Tambourines?”

No hands that time. She glanced at Rey, who was holding an object in her hands and grinning.

“Jingle bells?”

“Use what you have at your disposal!” Rey called back to her, and Leia couldn’t disagree.

She took a moment to do a few vocal warm-ups, as the musicians tuned their instruments and the audience buzzed excitedly. Then she turned to address the room.

“I have a voice, and I have accompaniment. There is just one more thing I need.” Leia waited a moment to make sure everyone was paying attention to her. “Do I have a chorus?”

An immediate cheer filled the room, and she laughed merrily. Really, this was more fun than should be allowed.

“Very well. Let’s begin.” She waved a hand at the musicians to set the tempo, and the cellists started to set down the familiar strains of the opening to Bizet’s "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle".

This had been her signature song. She had performed this aria hundreds of times in her career, in some of the greatest opera houses in the world, and at the end of her life she would remember this performance, above all others, as her greatest.

She turned to face Armitage Hux, Don José to her Carmen, and began to sing.

> _L'amour est un oiseau rebelle_  
>  _Que nul ne peut apprivoiser_  
>  _Et c'est bien en vain qu'on l'appelle_  
>  _S'il lui convient de refuser_

When it was time for the chorus to join her, half the room raised their voices. It was a magical moment.

> _Rien n'y fait, menaces ou prières_  
>  _L'un parle bien, l'autre se tait :_  
>  _Et c'est l'autre que je préfère_  
>  _Il n'a rien dit mais il me plaît_  
>  _L'amour ! L'amour ! L'amour ! L'amour !_

She continued singing, addressing Armitage as she sang about the elusive bird of love. Bizet really did give Carmen a messed-up attitude towards that emotion, but it was a beautiful aria and so much fun to sing. Armitage tried to play along, but mostly he boggled at her. 

> _L'amour est enfant de Bohême_  
>  _Il n'a jamais, jamais connu de loi_  
>  _Si tu ne m'aimes pas, je t'aime_  
>  _Si je t'aime, prends garde à toi !_  
>  _Si tu ne m’aimes pas_  
>  _Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime !_  
>  _Mais, si je t’aime_  
>  _Si je t’aime, prends garde à toi !_

She finished with a flourish, and the entire room erupted in a standing ovation.

Leia Organa was back.

* * *

Ben had never seen his mother perform on stage. He’d heard recordings, of course, and there was a PBS special he’d watched as a teenager that had a clip of her performing at the Royal Opera House in London at the beginning of her tour, but he’d never seen her perform live. 

He knew this, and yet watching her from his position in the wings he was reminded of just how true it was. It wasn’t that she was a different person out there, but that she was in her element; comfortable, joyful. He was briefly glad she’d quit when he was born, because he could imagine being very small and very jealous, thinking that her love for him was somehow in competition with her love of performing. The fear would have been overwhelming. 

Now that Ben was older he could sit back and enjoy the show. Her voice, beautiful in recordings, was unparalleled live, even unrehearsed. Her operatic voice was similar to the one she used to sing around the house when he was a kid, but _louder_ , and full of spirit. And she wasn’t just singing, she was _acting_ , she was _Carmen_ , stalking around the stage, flirting with Hux’s poor Don José, teasing the audience. It was no wonder she’d made such an impression during her tour.

She’d left this for him, and the realization caught in his throat and brought tears to his eyes even as she finished with a stomp and a cry and he joined the rest of the audience in the ovation.

Rey was there, next to him, and he kissed her, and he hugged Finn and Rose, too. Ben’s mom was still taking a bow, but they came out to join her and the cries and applause grew even louder. The audience was applauding for _them_ ; Ben could tell, because amongst the general whoops and cries were shouts of _Sunflower!_ and _Nerf Herders!_ And wasn’t that something else. That had never happened to him before. Maz had gone back to sit with her friends, but Rey and Rose shouted for her and the young woman made her way back up to the stage for acknowledgment of her own contribution to the show.

It took a while but eventually the applause died down and people started milling around or filing out the doors to the inn. Some people would go up to bed immediately, or take the first bus back to the hotels in town, but others would stick around for cookies and punch. Poe and Holdo would be on task; from the stage, Ben could see trays and bowls appearing like magic on the counter in front of the bar, and he knew something similar was happening out in the lobby. 

As Ben was contemplating the wisdom of cookies there was a shout from near the fire pit.

“Hey everybody! It's snowing! IT'S SNOWING!!” There was a rush to the windows, and Ben and Finn rushed too, to the loading doors at the back of the stage. They worked together to roll them open and revealed a world clad in a layer of white, glistening in the moonlight. As they watched, a sleigh full of children, pulled by a horse, whooshed by, and Ben could only laugh and clap. The air was cold and pure and full of snowflakes still falling.

Finn patted him on the back and looked outside with him. “So much for no snow, huh?”

“Yeah, looks like it's going to be a white Christmas after all.”

They grinned at each other, and then Finn returned to the celebration.

Leia walked over to Ben and gave him a big squeeze, right around his middle, then reached up and put her hands on his cheeks. “Ben. Thank you, so much. This has been one of the best nights of my life, the greatest gift.”

“You’re welcome. But I didn’t really do anything, just our usual skits. Rey and Rose did the original stuff, Finn kept us on task. Hux paid for everything.”

“Oh, honey. You made me laugh, you made me cry. You sang _Mirrorbright_ , which I was not expecting _at all_. You let _me_ take the stage. You reminded me that there are people out there who remember me.”

“I had never seen you perform before, I didn’t realize it. You’re _amazing_.”

“Thank you. It felt good, to be back on stage. Actually,” she added peeking around his shoulder, “Looks like I need to go talk to a man about a horse.” He turned his head to see Ransolm Casterfo and Armitage Hux watching her expectantly, Hux’s sneer looking more like a grin than usual. A horse, indeed. Ben gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and let her go.

Rey caught him on his way down from the stage. She was still wearing that beautiful red dress and the silly Santa hat, and she looked like a Christmas dream. The dress hugged the curves above her waist, and he thought again about their shower that morning, which had ended all too quickly. Her gloves were off, and she was holding a small plate piled with cookies in one hand, and a cup of punch in the other. She passed the punch to him. “Here, have a drink!” He took the cup without thinking, and realized too late that she only gave it to him so she would have a hand with which to shove cookies into her mouth. It was funny, so he kissed her. She giggled and tried not to leak crumbs on him.

As Rey munched, Ben wrapped an arm around her middle and gazed around the room. So familiar, but full of new joys. Finn and Rose were sitting by the fire pit, cookies and punch forgotten as they hunched over a notebook they held between them on their knees. Snap had found the group from the travel plaza; they’d claimed a corner of the room and pulled some of the chairs into a circle, and Ben guessed they were trying to decide what to sing next. Maz was perched on Snap’s knee and he held on to her lightly. As Ben watched them, Maz turned her head and gave him a wink, which he took as a good sign. Holdo and Poe were chatting behind the bar, but their eyes were on Casterfo, Hux, and Leia, sitting on the floor in the middle of the stage, the snowy outside providing the perfect backdrop. 

Rey interrupted his reverie with a poke. “Hey, you, I’m done with my cookies. Do you want anything? Whiskey? Are you hungry?”

Oddly enough, whiskey wasn’t even remotely on Ben’s mind. He pulled Rey close and whispered in her ear. “I am hungry for one thing and it's not on any of these platters.”

Rey gazed back at him, her cheeks just beginning to flush. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Rey, do you have any idea how difficult this entire day has been, after this morning, showering with you and not being able to just push you up against the wall and …”

“Okay, time to go!” Rey said, just a bit too loudly, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him through the door to the inn, waving goodnight on her way.

They could catch up with everyone else tomorrow. The rest of tonight would be just him and Rey, a taste of the rest of their lives. Whatever it would hold, he was looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for coming back for Christmas Eve and I hope you have enjoyed the story! There is one more chapter: an Epilogue, so we can check in on our friends one year later to see what they are up to. I hope you'll return for it tomorrow!
> 
> The song the Anderson alumni sing to Leia is "For We Wish You Music" by Douglas Wagner. It is apparently popular for middle and high school choirs but I thought it made sense to have a "first song" for all the students to learn together, and this one has relevant lyrics so there you go. [Listen to it here](https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=3299012). AND as with all things musical, many thanks to LoveThemFiercely for suggesting this song for this purpose!
> 
> Lyrics for _You're Not Alone_ are by LoveThemFiercely.
> 
> The Finale is a leoba original, although I got the idea from [Straight No Chaser's Twelve Days of Christmas Medley](https://youtu.be/cxtLytp95gw) (and the 11 days of Christmas to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is straight-up stolen). It also owes a lot to my dad, who let me sit up late with him and watch Monty Python when I was probably way too young to be watching. Thanks, Dad.
> 
> I assume that everyone knows the Twelve Days of Christmas but if you need a good recording [here's John Denver with the Muppets](https://youtu.be/EDBMzGq1vhs).
> 
> [The Boar's Head Carol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boar%27s_Head_Carol) is a 15th century English carol and an old favorite of mine; [The Chieftans do a nice version with the added bonus of Irish instrumentation](https://youtu.be/uFYpRS-4Y2A).
> 
> Little bit of Latin translating:
> 
> Let us _servire cantico_ = Let us serve with a song  
>  _In Reginensi atrio_ = In the hall of Queen's [College, Oxford] [It works for Leia, too]  
>  _Caput porgi defero / Reddens laudes Domino_ = The porg's head I bear / Giving praises to the Lord  
> (the original is _Caput apri defero_ , The boar's head I bear)
> 
> [Carol of the Bells](https://youtu.be/WnEUC4eZjjA) is another song you know without necessarily knowing that you know it.
> 
> Finally, I did say that Bizet's "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" from _Carmen_ would be important to the story, didn't I? [Here's that rendition again if you haven't already watched it](https://youtu.be/K2snTkaD64U). Leia is basically Elina Garanca. Hux doesn't stand a chance.


	10. Epilogue: Christmas, One Year Later

Rey stretched into wakefulness, yawning and humming as her body luxuriated in the warmth and softness of the bed. And… oh yes, that as well, the warmth of Ben’s body curled around her own, his arm holding her tightly even in sleep. The early morning sun, filtered through the white curtains, lapped through the room, and she blinked her eyes slowly to give them time to acclimate. As she gently pulled away from Ben he growled and clutched her more tightly, and in doing so rubbed his front against her back, and… oh, yes. That _really_ woke her up, and then she woke _him_ up. She was still a bit tired from the night before—she’d given him a very special gift for Christmas Eve, something they’d been working towards for a couple of months, and he had been _very_ thankful, had pretty much worn her out—but now that she’d had a full night’s sleep she was ready to have another go.

She pushed him onto his back and climbed onto him, ran her lips and tongue across his jaw, down his neck and to his collarbone, as he gently pushed his fingers through her hair. He tugged as she lowered herself onto him, and they moaned together in the quiet of the morning. Not speaking, just feeling each other as she rode him slowly towards orgasm. 

When they were done she collapsed and rolled down next to him, pressing herself as close to him as she could. She wanted as little space between them as they could manage, for as long as possible, because she knew that very soon they’d have a whole day before they could be alone together again. 

They had just drifted off when the knock came on the door, two sharp raps, followed by a call, “Up and at ‘em, kids! Everyone else is downstairs and eating; we won’t have any sausage for you if you don’t get a move on!”

“Okay, Holdo, hold your horses!” Ben shouted from under a pillow, and Rey chuckled. “We’ll be down in a few minutes.”

They spent a couple of those minutes in the shower, and Rey was reminded of the shower they took a year ago, the morning of the show. That shower had also been far too short and lacking in significant action. It was worse now, because she knew what she wasn’t having. Rey could tell that Ben was thinking about exactly the same thing, and she laughed as she rinsed conditioner out of her hair. “Ben, we just had sex, not even twenty minutes ago. You can wait.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t shower sex. I really like shower sex.”

“I know!” she replied cheerily, but she was already out and padding into the room to find the outfit she’d designated for Christmas morning. Rey supposed there’d be time enough for that later, and she was both very hungry and excited to be here, for Christmas, to spend the day with the people she loved the most. 

* * *

The Columbia Inn had a full house for Christmas—they had a full house most nights those days—so Leia had hired additional help to handle the morning events for those guests who chose to take advantage of the comfort of the ski lodge over their private rooms. The family Christmas was happening behind the scenes; breakfast around the farm table in the kitchen, to be followed by a gift exchange and carol singing in the private living area. 

Holdo hadn’t been lying. Rey and Ben were the last ones down, even including Snap and Maz, who had driven over from Snap’s parents’ house in Albany earlier that morning. She’d had to save them a plate of sausage, set aside in a warming oven; the rest of the portion designated for the family had already been consumed. Ben couldn’t blame them for eating it all; Holdo made the sausage fresh each morning, grinding the pork together with sage and other spices. There was nothing else like it, and he enjoyed listening to Rey moan as she ate it, along with her eggs and biscuits, followed by a plate of pancakes. The whole room smelled delicious, like food and coffee and cinnamon and spice. The chatter around the table was echoed pleasantly by the noise of the servers carrying trays back and forth for the buffet that was laid out in the ski lodge.

Ben glanced around as they ate. Across the table, Finn was regaling Hux and Leia with yet another story from their summer escapades. The Nerf Herders had ended up following Sunflower on their tour around the USA and Europe, which led to some interesting stories including the one Finn was telling now. They'd been chased around the quays in Dublin by the Gardaí while filming a scene as Kylo and Trooper, but it had turned out they just wanted an autograph, a photo with Scruffy, and a good word put in with the ladies. With the permission of the Gardaí it had become one of the most popular videos of the summer.

The tour had been an inspired idea. Ben and Finn had seen more of the country, of the world, than they ever thought they might, including many of the cities their mom had visited during her European tour. And they’d filmed Nerf Herder videos everywhere. Over the six months of the tour they’d been recognized on the street dozens of times, and had gained thousands of new subscribers on their YouTube channel. They’d been approached about recording contracts, all of which they’d turned down except for one: a Christmas recording, with Sunflower, of _You’re Not Alone_ which, while it didn’t really have a holiday theme, sounded enough like it did when it was accompanied by jingle bells. It had been the number one single for the entire month of December. It was weird, very weird, to hear yourself on the radio all the time, but it was also _good_. (And, as Hux liked to remind them, it was money in the bank; one more day not having to work at Starbucks. And that was very, very good indeed.) There were talks of a Nerf Herder Netflix series. Ben was unsure but they were letting Hux follow up with it anyway. The future was bright, in that regard.

Next to him, Rey and Rose’s sister Paige were talking with Rose, who leaned across the table from where she sat between Finn and Hux. Rose and Finn had taken full advantage of the tour by eloping when they were in Vegas. They hadn’t even told Rey and Ben what they were doing before dragging them to the chapel. Mom had been _pissed_ , but only for a few days. She'd long since forgiven them completely and was using this Christmas visit to give them the gifts she’d have given them before the wedding, if only she’d known. The major gift so far was the ring set Leia had inherited from her mama Breha, which Rose was wearing, waving her hand around in a manner the Ben was certain wasn't entirely conscious. He glanced down at Rey, finishing off her breakfast, and for the first time that morning he felt a touch of nervousness in his gut, just a little bit. He did his best to push it down, and gave Rey a totally normal smile when she looked up at him.

At the far end of the table Holdo was holding court, with Snap and Maz on one side of her, and Poe and his father, Kes, on the other. Maz had finished her master’s that summer, and she and Snap had moved to Toronto together. They loved the city, but not the weather, which was the current conversation at that end of the table. Kes, on the other hand, was visiting from Guatemala, the country of his birth and to which he’d retired a few years before. This was his first visit back to the US since he moved, and he was thrilled with the snow, which had blanketed the hills for the past week, and which was still falling outside. He was looking forward to getting back on the slopes in the afternoon.

Once Ben and Rey were done eating, they all relocated to the private living room, where they were going to unwrap gifts, drink eggnog (and maybe whiskey), and sing some carols together. Poe had moved the furniture around, clearing out a corner of the room where there now stood a rather small but still beautiful tree, trimmed with colorful lights and decorations that Ben recognized from his childhood. He examined them as Rey and Rose dug through the packages under the tree; there was a wooden, hand painted Santa ornament his father had brought him from Russia when he was very small, there was the pair of clothespin reindeer he’d made in third grade, and there was the the Hallmark “Frosty Friends” ornament for 1995, the last year his mom had in her collection. Ben’s father had bought those ornaments for her every year they were together until his death, fifteen of them in total. Ben ran his finger around the hood that encircled the character’s face, and took in the expression of the teddy bear tucked into the bag slung on the character’s back, which never failed to make him smile.

He was pulled out of his reverie by a shout; the gifts had been distributed and it was time to open them. With twelve of them there they decided to open all the presents at once, so Ben set himself on working through the small pile at the corner of the sofa where he and Rey had found a spot to perch. There was nothing too exciting: a new iPhone case, a couple of t-shirts, some colorful socks, a card game, and, from Rey, a large rectangle, about a foot long on it shorter side. “A frame?” he guessed, as he felt through the paper before unwrapping it.

Not only a frame, but a collage, photos of the two of them together. Eating olives in Tuscany, making faces in Trafalgar Square, a rare moment on stage together with Scruffy in Vienna, snuggling under a bridge in Central Park during a rainstorm, with Finn and Rose in front of the Bellagio Fountains just after their surprise wedding, and others, documenting their first year together. And in the center, Ben in his Kylo costume (sans helmet) standing next to Rey in her glistening red dress, eating cookies, which must have been taken just after the show the previous year.

Rey slid down from the arm of the sofa onto his lap, and he was able to wrap his arms around her, still holding the frame tightly in one hand. He buried his nose in the still-damp hair at the back of her neck. 

“Thank you. I love it. I love _you_.”

“I love you too,” she murmured. “What did you get me?”

“Ah,” he said, turning her so he could see her face. “It's small. It's in your stocking.”

“Curious,” she said, her eyes narrowing. After a moment she jumped up and headed for the row of filled stockings, leaned upright against the wall, red and green felt things that Holdo had bought in bulk and which they had decorated with gold and silver baubles the day before. Since Snap and Maz hadn’t been there, Rey and Ben had worked together to decorate theirs.

“Can we open stockings yet?” Rey asked the room. 

Leia looked around from her central position on the armchair. “Let's wait just a minute, Rey. I want to see what Finn and Rose have for their last gift.” 

Rose, seated on the floor next to the tree, raised her head at the sound of her name and pulled the package onto her lap. It was a large, thick square, soft, and it crinkled pleasantly when she pushed on it. She and Finn worked together to pull the paper off and to unfold the object within. When it was fully unfolded they stood and held it up so everyone could see.

It was a quilt. It was… interesting. Not quite square on the corners, and some of the batting was bunched up in some of the squares, making it quite lumpy. The lines weren’t straight, either, but the colors were very nice. The squares were made of interlocking triangles, green and blue, with small blue flowers embroidered on the green areas and gold comma-like shapes on the blue. So it wasn’t perfectly made, but the backing was dark green flannel, soft and warm, and it would certainly keep them comfortable during long winters nights.

Finn examined it, confused, but Rose turned her shining eyes to Leia. Leia, who had stood up when they were unfolding it, and who was clutching her hands together anxiously. 

“Leia, did you make this?” Rose asked her. 

“I did,” she answered. “The design represents the inn, during the summer, or it’s supposed to. The green is the grass, and the blue is the sky. The little flowers are the bluebells that Finn loves so much, and the gold things, they’re supposed to be shaped like your necklace. And Paige’s.” Leia looked up at Rose. “It’s not very good, but it’s only my first try.”

“No it’s _perfect_ ,” Rose declared, tears in her eyes as she took the quilt in her arms and embraced it. “I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you.” And she continued thanking her as she passed the quilt to Finn and hugged Leia warmly. 

“Mom, when did you have time to make this?” Finn asked. He continued to examine the quilt, joined by Rey and Ben. “Between running the inn and your time in New York, I wouldn’t think you’d have any spare time at all.” Since the spring Leia had been presenting twice-monthly concerts at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, under the auspices of the Metropolitan Opera, and occasional roles at with the Opera itself. It certainly kept her busy.

She shrugged. “I guess, if you have something you really want to do, you find time to do it. And to be honest I had a lot of help.” Holdo coughed, and Leia waved a hand at her. “Yes, yes, I’m talking about you. Anyway, I’d been thinking about doing something like this ever since last Christmas, but your wedding this summer really threw me for a loop! So I knew that if I wanted to finish this by Christmas I needed to just do it. Luckily I had Amilyn as a teacher and a really good sewing machine, and Poe to keep things running, and money to hire extra help.”

“Anyway,” she said, turning to look at Ben and Rey, “My next one will be better. And with that, I think we can open stockings now!”

Finn and Rose gave Leia another hug while the others gathered around the stockings, and Rey took responsibility for handing them out. They all had headbands with soft reindeer antlers stuck in the top, and everyone put them on, even Hux (he complained about it, but Poe could be very convincing). Rey and Ben returned to their spots on the sofa, and Ben watched as Rey pulled candy and small gifts out of her stocking. First came a candy cane, which she dutifully unwrapped the end of and stuck in her mouth as she dug back in. Next was a box of chocolates, a couple of lottery tickets which she set aside, a set of dice, a mini stuffed porg (this she threw across the room at Finn; he just laughed and threw it back), an orange, and at the very bottom, down at the end of the toe, a small cube, wrapped in shiny red paper.

Rey held it up to Ben, then eyed his stocking, which he hadn’t touched. “Aren’t you going to open your stocking?” she asked around the peppermint stick, a gleam in her eye.

He shook his head. “Nope. Aren’t you going to open your present?”

“This is the one from you?” He nodded. She rolled her eyes at him. “Ben, I’m going to say yes.”

His heart soared, and he was trying very hard not to laugh. “I haven’t asked you anything yet!” 

“I’m just saying,” she replied, as she ripped the paper and pulled out a little black box, covered in velvet, which she opened as Ben slipped off the sofa and onto his knees. 

Any quip she was planning to make died in her throat when she took in Ben on the floor and the ring in the box. At least that’s what Ben hoped happened. In any case she didn’t say anything, she just stared at him, and he realized that the room had grown suddenly quiet, that all eyes were on them.

“Rey,” Ben began, working his jaw, “when we…”

“Yes.” Rey had found her voice, and he could see tears forming in her eyes.

Ben was unsure how to continue. “Uh, I have a thing I planned…”

“Just, yes.” The tears were out of her eyes and beginning to run down her cheeks. “Whatever you say, yes, yes, yes. Yes. Forever.”

“Forever?” He was crying now, too.

“Always.” Rey got down on the floor next to him, and he took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger.

“Okay,” he whispered, as she threw her arms around his neck, “this means you’ll marry me, right?”

“ _Asshole_ ,” she said, and hugged him tighter, but she didn’t say no.

* * *

A while later, after everyone had a glass of champagne to celebrate, Snap and Maz took responsibility for the carol sing-along while Leia and Rey back to Leia's bedroom. While the others sang in the living room, Leia told Rey about her birth mother, her mama Padmé, who had given her and her twin brother up for adoption soon after they were born. Padmé had tracked them down at the very end of her life, and had gifted to Leia her own engagement and wedding rings, the ones she had been given in marriage by her husband, who had died in an unfortunate accident before his children were born. It was these rings that Leia had given to Ben, who would in turn give them to Rey. 

“To me,” Leia said, laying her hand across Rey’s and touching the stone on the ring, a large square-cut sapphire, “this ring represents family, the family I’ve been given and the family I’ve made. I have been remarkably fortunate with my family, with Han and Ben and Finn and Amilyn and Poe, and now with you and Rose, and goodness, Hux! And I hope that this ring, and its partner, bring you as much joy and happiness as I’ve had in my life.”

“Thank you, Leia,” Rey said, embracing the other woman. “I think, all things considered, I’ve already been very fortunate in that regard. Although,” she added, turning the ring so it caught the sunlight peeking in through the window, “the ring certainly doesn’t hurt.”

Leia and Rey laughed together and left the room, hand in hand, to join the others in song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really a fan of the "Frosty Friends" decorations, but it's been the longest-running series from Hallmark so it made sense to use them. Here's the one for 1995.  
> 
> 
> I am not certain that Santa is a "thing" in Russia, but anyway, here's the one that Han brought back for Ben when he was just a Little Baby Ben:  
> 
> 
> Clothespin reindeer are a thing that most US kids make at some point or another; this is what they look like:  
> 
> 
> Gardaí = An Garda Síochána = _the Guardian of the Peace_ , the Irish National Police
> 
> The quilt represents Alderaan. The blue is the sky, the green is the lawn of the Alderaanian palace, and the blue flowers, which represent bluebells in the AU (shout-out here to LoveThemFiercely's [Hymn: A Psychopomp and Circumstance Story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16776889)), represent the [Alderaanian starflower](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Starflower). The gold shapes are the same in both universes.
> 
> [Alice Tully Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Tully_Hall) is a smaller venue at the Lincoln Center, which also houses the Metropolitan Opera House. 
> 
> Aionimica has drawn some fantastic fan art of Ben and Finn gussied up as Bing and Danny for "Sisters, Sisters," please slide on over to Tumblr and check it out [(be sure to tell her how much you love it while you are there)](https://aionimica.tumblr.com/post/181392683188/sisters-sisters-obviously-i-had-to-make).
> 
> Thank you so much for sticking around and reading the whole story. I had so much fun writing it and I hope you've enjoyed reading it. Happy Holidays and all my best for the New Year!

**Author's Note:**

> I have had unbelievable amounts of help with this. [LoveThemFiercely](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveThemFiercely/pseuds/LoveThemFiercely) is my #1 beta and cheerleader, and she also wrote the original song lyrics. Thanks to [bittersnake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersnake), [ArdeaJestin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArdeaJestin) and [MissCoppelia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCoppelia) for reading and assuring me on my first attempt to write Finnrose. Thanks to [flypaper_brain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flypaper_brain/pseuds/flypaper_brain) for the additional cheerleading, and to [HarpiaHarpyja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarpiaHarpyja/pseuds/HarpiaHarpyja) for the final read through and for assuring me that my comedy sketches are in fact funny (although, if they are not funny, I am still the one to blame).
> 
> I am leofgyth on Tumblr and leoba on Pillowfort, come talk to me about Christmas movies!


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